Yugioh: Rise of the Shadow Hunters
by basketballdude51
Summary: A powerful organization called the Shadow Hunters are after 10 powerful artifacts called the Eyes of Cryak, which have the power to destroy the world. Ten of the world's best duelists are recruited to guard the Eyes, including some of the GX gang.
1. Prologue: Security Breach

**Yugioh: Rise of the Shadow Hunters**

By: Basketballdude51

(I don't own Yugioh or any of its affiliates. But I do own the plotline, OCs and original cards.)

_Original Character's First Appearance in Story_

_Julian_

_Name: Julian Endchild_

_Age: 22_

_Hair: Brown_

_Eyes: Hazel_

_Harrison_

_Name: Harrison Smith_

_Age: 19_

_Hair: Brown_

_Eyes: Brown_

ENDCHILD ENTERPRISES, NEW YORK CITY

Two uniformed guards were sitting at a security desk; one watching football highlights on the television idly while the other was watching the security feed from the cameras.

"Hey Bart you gotta take a look at this touchdown run by Adrian Peterson!" The first guard exclaimed to the other. "74 yards with three broken tackles man he's gonna make it in the Hall of Fame at this rate!"

Bart sighed. "Terrence, you never can focus during your shifts can you?"

"Nothing ever happens here Bart, you know that." Terrence shrugged. "It's the same thing every night. You check the security feeds thinking that some psycho with a machine gun is gonna pop up at any moment, while I catch up on any missed football games. Jeez buddy you need to relax, here how about after this shift we go to the bar and get a few drinks and…" Terrence stopped midsentence as suddenly the power in the building went dead.

"Oh crap!" Bart cursed, glancing at the security feeds again only to find blank screens. "Shit none of the building's security systems are online anymore!"

Terrence paled. "Okay so maybe you do have the right to worry a little bit. But it's probably just some malfunction or…" Terrence suddenly stopped talking, as he fell dead a throwing knife embedded in his skull!

Bart bent down, taking the knife out of Terrence's skull. He slipped the knife into his pocket, and then he stood up, drawing his revolver, looking for the hidden assailant. "Whoever you are, come out with your hands up! I warn you I'm not afraid to shoot!"

Suddenly he heard a chuckle. Pointing his gun in that direction, Bart yelled "Come out slowly, and maybe I won't have to shoot you!"

"Forgive me if I startled you, but I really think it would be in your best interest to drop the weapon," a cool voice replied.

From the shadows a figure walked out. He wore a black trench coat over a black undershirt and black pants, but the most distinguishing characteristic about him was the fact that his entire face was covered by a flesh colored mask, making it look as though he had no eyes, mouth, nose, or any other facial features! Around his wrist he wore a metal device, with a screen and buttons.

Bart turned ghostly white. "No…you're one of them aren't you?"

The figure laughed. "I could be anything. For all you know I could be the janitor dressed in a Halloween costume." He said, still advancing towards Bart.

"No stay back! I'll shoot you, I really will!" Bart's hands were shaking, as he aimed the weapon right at the masked man's head.

The person stopped for a moment. Then he said, "I don't wish to kill you, so simply drop the weapon and I will let you walk away unscathed. Otherwise, you will end up worse than your friend over there," he said, motioning to Terrence's corpse.

Bart shook his head. "No! I know what you and your organization wants to do! If I let you do that we'll all be dead anyways!" And with that he pulled the trigger.

Suddenly, with superhuman speed, the masked person side stepped the gun shot and ran forwards, knocking the weapon out of the security guard's hand with a kick. He followed that up by a lightning fast punch to the face which sent the guard to fly back a few feet into the wall behind him!

Bart weakly looked up, as the figure stood over him. Blood was leaking from the corner of his mouth, but in an instant he stood up, thrusting the knife used to kill Terrence right into the masked man's face.

For a second both of them stood there, the man motionless, and Bart waiting for him to fall dead. What he didn't expect was for the masked figure to grab Bart by the collar and slam him into the wall!

"How…how…is that possible?" Bart stammered, more blood dripping from his mouth. "I stabbed you in the face…how are you not dead?"

The figure laughed. "How can you stab me in the face, when I have no face?" And with that he placed his right hand onto Bart's face, causing the guard to scream in agony as suddenly the flesh on his face started to melt, sliding over his eyes and mouth, while his nose melted as well!

Finally the man let go of Bart, letting his body fall to the ground limply. Bart's flesh had now completely melted over his face, so that his "face" now resembled the figure's mask.

"I swear, even though I've seen you do that so many times already, it's still as disturbing as the first time Masque," a girl's voice said disapprovingly.

The masked man called Masque turned to see another masked person, this one a voluptuous, blonde female who was dressed completely in a tight black leather outfit, with high heeled boots. Over her hands she wore black leather gloves. Covering her face was a mask which had full lips where the mouth would normally be, and eyes with extremely long and thick eyelashes where normal eyes would be. She wore a belt, with various knives, guns and other weapons hanging from it. Fastened around her wrist was the same device that Masque had.

Masque shrugged, "We have much more important things to do than discussing my ethics Akroma. How much time to we have before the security goes back online?"

Akroma giggled. "Always straight to the point, as always Masque, you could lighten up you know. Maybe I could even help you with that if you wanted." She purred seductively, running a hand up her body.

Masque shook his head. "I know you're called the Blessed One, but maybe if I melted your face then it would be another blessing. Lord knows then you would be so hideously deformed that you would never hit on any male ever again."

"Don't even joke about that Faceless One!" Akroma pouted. "Anyways your name is such a misnomer! You totally do have a face; after all I've seen it!"

"Shut up! As the highest ranked member of the Shadow Hunters I order you to shut up!" Masque shouted.

"I'd like to see you try that!" Akroma countered. "If you give me one more order I'll make you faceless for real, without using Shadow magic!"

Suddenly their watches made a beeping sound. Both of them pressed a button on them and said "what Frost?"

"Um…this argument was pretty entertaining and all, but you two just killed three minutes with that little discussion of yours. So you have about 20 seconds before the security system goes back online and the alarms activate."

Both masked figures looked at each other sheepishly. "Well then…this is a little awkward," Masque said. "Fine Akroma and I will do this the old fashioned way. Frost, if anyone interferes with us deal with them."

"Consider it done," the voice on the other line replied. "I'll see you two in a bit then. Try not to cause unimaginable destruction will you? It's a pain having to cover it up." Then the line went dead.

"I'm assuming we're going to have to fight our way through now?" Akroma said, drawing two daggers from her belt.

Masque sighed. "Try not to have too much fun Akroma. After all we have a mission to do." Then his right hand glowed and a sword with a blade made of a black material appeared in it.

"Don't worry," Akroma nodded, as a deafening alarm started to ring. "I know what's at stake here."

TOP FLOOR OF ENDCHILD ENTERPRISES

Sitting in his office was Julian Endchild, CEO of Endchild Enterprises. He was only twenty two years old, with brown hair and a muscular build.

Endchild Enterprises was publically known as a leading power in the energy, technology, and weapon industries, which lead to it being more powerful and wealthier than any order corporation in the world. However they had one more thing that they did, that was kept from the public eye.

Julian fiddled with his tie nervously. Something doesn't feel right tonight…he said to himself.

Right at that moment a loud siren rang throughout the building. At that moment three black suited men ran into the office.

"Mr. Endchild sir, there has been a security breach!" One of the suits informed.

Julian narrowed his eyes. "It must be the Shadow Hunters. We have to protect the keys at all cost!"

"The Council has already sent reinforcements, they should be here quickly," another of the suits said.

Julian nodded, and then he opened a drawer in his desk, revealing a duel disk, with a deck of Duel Monsters cards already in the deck slot. He motioned to the elevator. "Let's go," he ordered the suits.

OUTSIDE OF ENDCHILD ENTERPRISES

Four black cars were heading towards Endchild Enterprises. In one of them was a brown haired boy dressed in jeans, a blue jacket, and a white shirt underneath, a duel disk on his arm.

"What's our ETA Myron?" He asked the driver, an extremely muscular man dressed in a black suit.

"Less than five minutes Harrison." Myron replied.

Harrison nodded. "We need to get there ASAP, the Shadow Hunters can't be allowed to get their hands on those keys!"

All of the sudden, giant icicles rose from the ground, spreading through the road like wild fire and impaling three of the black cars! An icicle appeared in front of Harrison's car, and when it seemed as though the car would crash into it, a blast of golden energy blew it to smithereens!

The driver stopped the car, turning to Harrison, whose eyes were glowing gold. "That was a close one Harrison."

He nodded, his eyes slowly returning back to normal. "Are the others alright?"

Both of them got out of the car and walked over to the nearest car, which had an icicle sticking straight through the roof of it. They looked through the window and saw the mutilated bodies of two suits and two boys carrying duel disks.

"Your friends didn't have the same reflexes as you I'm afraid," a cold voice said.

Harrison and the suit turned around to see a trench coated figure with blonde hair. He was dressed the same as Masque except that his trench coat, shirt and pants were trimmed with a light blue color. His mask was light blue, and made out of a crystalline substance so that it looked as though it was composed of ice. The edges of his mask were jagged.

"You did this!" Evan yelled, his voice filled with hatred. "How could you murder so carelessly?"

The figure shrugged. "I wouldn't say it was careless, I put a lot of effort in making sure my icicles were aimed precisely at the right spots."

Myron snarled drawing an automatic pistol. "You'll pay for killing them!" He fired numerous shots at the masked figure. Instantly the figure disappeared, the bullets just flying by where he used to be.

"Wha-?" The suit managed to get out, before the figure appeared right in front of him and punched the gun out of his hand. The suit recovered quickly, throwing a fist at the masked man, only to have it dodged. The figure grabbed the suit's still extended arm, and turned around, swiftly smashing the suit's elbow over the masked man's shoulder, snapping the arm completely! Then, while the suit's scream of pain still hadn't left his mouth yet, the masked man thrust his wrist into his throat, revealing a hidden blade.

Myron fell dead, as the masked man retracted his hidden weapon. Harrison looked at him, loathing etched on his face. He clenched his fists and then suddenly his eyes glowed gold and he fired a blast of golden energy at the masked figure.

The figure raised his hand, and it started to glow blue, causing a wall of ice to erupt from the ground, absorbing the attack. He lowered his hand, and the wall disappeared instantly.

"Not bad, but still not to my level," he chuckled.

Harrison scowled. "Then try this on for size!" This time the golden glow enveloped his entire body, and he fired an even larger blast of power at the masked person. The person just raised his hand again, and another wall of ice came out of the ground, absorbing the attack once again.

"Still not good enough," he laughed.

Harrison grinned. "Oh really? Take another look."

The masked figure looked at his barrier of ice, and then he gasped as cracks started to form in it! Then it shattered completely.

For a moment he looked at the remains of his wall of ice. Then he laughed. "Well I guess I underestimated you after all. For you to break my ice barrier, well you are quite the impressive little Shadow duelist aren't you?"

Harrison frowned. "I'm assuming that you won't let me by that easily, so I have a proposal for you Shadow Hunter. We have a Shadow Game, the loser loses his soul, and the winner obviously gets to do whatever they want."

The masked figure regarded Harrison for a few seconds. Then a duel disk seemingly made of ice appeared on his arm. "I accept your challenge."

Harrison nodded, activating his own duel disk. "My name is Harrison Smith; remember that name Shadow Hunter because I'll be the one who ends your terror once and for all!"

A dome of ice surrounded the dueling area, as Harrison gasped the Shadow Hunter chuckled. "In case my powers haven't given it away yet, you may call me Frost the Cold Hearted One, as it is my title in the Shadow Hunters. And you interest me Harrison Smith, so now show me your power!"

LOWER LEVELS OF ENDCHILD ENTERPRISES

Masque threw a knife at a suited man, hitting him in the chest, causing him to fall lifelessly to the ground. Another suit fired a shot at him, only for the masked figure to vanish then appear right behind him. The suit didn't even have time to turn around before Masque slit his throat.

Meanwhile Akroma leapt onto a suit who had just aimed his gun at her. She raised her gloved hand, and the suit's eyes widened as metal claws emerged out of the fingers. Akroma thrust her hand downwards, sending the claws into the guard's face.

Another guard fired his gun at her, only for her to spin sideways and take out her own gun from her belt. She fired a shot and he fell dead, a bullet hole right in his skull.

Masque walked over to her, as she replaced her weapon and retracted the claws in her glove. "There's a lot of security here," he remarked calmly.

Akroma shrugged. "Well I don't know about you, but I needed the exercise. Slapping cards on a duel disk is so easy, even a granny could do it! At least this way we don't get rusty."

"Shadow Hunters don't get rusty." Masque said. "We're almost at the keys so let's move."

The two masked figures walked over the bloody corpses of the security, getting into an elevator and going down it.

At the lowest floor of the elevator they got out, and stepped into a hallway, which led to the door of a gigantic vault. Both of them walked up to the door, inspecting it closely.

"Allow me," Akroma said, stepping forward. She took a square device from her belt and placed it on the door. As she pressed a button on it, the screen on the device turn on, numbers flashing through it rapidly. Within 30 seconds the door opened.

"Well, well, well, look at what we have here," Masque chuckled. "The famous Julian Endchild and more useless security."

Indeed, standing there was Julian, and three suits, their weapons trained on the two Shadow Hunters. Behind them was a silver box, placed on a metallic pedestal. "Nice to see you to Masque the Faceless One," Julian replied sarcastically. "And the lovely Akroma the Blessed One, this is quite the honor."

Akroma curtseyed. "You've done well for yourself Julian. All the money, all the power, most people wouldn't suspect that you guard something as powerful as the Eyes of the Cryak."

"I have to guard them from the likes of you Shadow Hunters," Julian said, his voice dripping with venom. "If anyone uses them, the Eyes of the Cryak will destroy all worlds, including this one!"

"You're a fool," Masque said. "You're blinded, just like the Shadow Council is."

"Oh really? You Shadow Hunters kill and destroy, the Shadow Council protects and regulates, considering you Hunters killed most of the people in his building I think my observation is correct!" Julian spat at them.

Akroma sighed. "We didn't come here to have a discussion about ethics with you Julian. We came for the Eyes, so please, step out of the way, or we'll make sure you're never able to take a step ever again."

"To hell with that! Kill them!" Julian ordered the suits. Before they could fire their weapons, Akroma disappeared for a few seconds, then she reappeared in the exact same spot.

"What are you doing? Shoot!" Julian yelled. Then he took a good look at the suited men, they were in the exact same position of almost firing their weapons. But a few seconds later gashes appeared on their faces, chests, stomachs, and throats, causing them to fall dead.

Akroma polished one of her daggers, wiping the recently acquired blood off of it. "Please Julian, give us the Eyes."

Julian grinned. "Unfortunately for you, I couldn't do that even if I wanted to. You want proof, go ahead and try."

"Enough of this!" Masque shouted, walking over to the box. Reaching for it, he stopped when his hand reached an invisible barrier. He tried a few more times, and each time his hand was constantly repelled. Finally his hand glowed with a black energy, and he slammed it onto the invisible barrier, sending a shockwave resounding throughout the vault, causing Arkroma and Julian to stagger back a bit. However, Masque's hand still couldn't penetrate the barrier.

He slowly turned to Julian. "What sort of enchantment have you done on the Eyes?" He said angrily.

Julian smiled. "I didn't do anything. The Council knew that eventually you Hunters would make your move, so they cast a powerful enchantment on the Eyes."

Akroma's mask glowed white for a moment. "Ah I see it now," she said. "The only way for us to get the Eyes now is to win them through a duel, against the assigned guardians of them. The question is who are these guardians that we have to beat?"

Julian frowned. "The Council gave me the task of deciding on who the guardians will be. There will be one for each of the 10 Eyes. However I didn't need to decide on them yet, since there were no attempts to take them yet."

"Hmmm, and I assume now that their safety has been compromised, you need to find the guardians now, or risk us breaking through this enchantment eventually," Akroma pointed out.

"Yes," Julian nodded.

"Then assemble your so called guardians Julian, and know that when you do, we'll hunt them down one by one and take the Eyes. Then we're coming for you and the Council," Masque threatened.

Masque and Akroma turned and walked out of the vault, leaving Julian to stand there amid the bodies of his dead bodyguards.

OUTSIDE OF ENDCHILD ENTERPRISES

A holographic coin appeared above the duelists. "I call heads!" Harrison declared.

Harrison: 8000 LP Frost: 8000 LP

The coin stopped on heads, so Harrison drew a card. "First I play Pot of Greed, which lets me draw two cards!" Harrison said, doing so from his deck. "Next I'll place one card face down as well as a card in defense mode. Your move."

Frost drew a card calmly. "Not bad, but I'll do something even better. I play Samurai of the Ice Barrier (ATK 1800, DEF 1500) in attack mode."

A samurai wearing blue armor and wielding a sword with a blade made of ice appeared.

"Before you do anything else," Harrison interrupted him, "I'll activate my trap, Jar of Greed! This lets me draw another card." Harrison grinned as he looked at it.

Frost shrugged. "Fine by me, now I'll attack your monster with my knight!"

The samurai leapt forward, cleaving the monster in half, which was revealed to be a Sangan (ATK 1000, DEF 600).

Harrison smirked. "Thanks to Sangan's effect, when it is destroyed I get to take one moster with 1500 or less ATK from my deck and add it to my hand. So guess what, I'll choose Exodia the Forbidden One (ATK 1000, DEF 1000)!" He said as he looked through his deck and showed Frost the card.

Frost laughed. "So that's the kind of strategy you're pushing. Alright then I'll set two cards face down and end my turn."

Harrison drew another card. "I'll play another card in defense mode, and place another card face down."

"Do you really think that defending will work against me?" Frost asked. "Sure you have Exodia, but I assure you he is nothing compared to what I have."

Harrison smirked. "If I have all the pieces of Exodia in my hand, it won't matter what you have."

"Fair enough, so how about I summon Cryomancer of the Ice Barrier (ATK 1300, DEF 0) in attack mode." Frost said as a man wielding a staff with a crystal made of ice appeared.

"I don't know how that's going to help you," Harrison said. "I know that when you have another Ice Barrier monster out then all level 4 or higher monsters can't attack. But that's more a detriment to you than me here."

Frost nodded. "In his case my cryomancer is a liability, but you forgot to mention that he is a Tuner monster."

Harrison's eyes widened. "Tuner?"

"Let me show you," Frost said. "I tune my level two Cryomancer of the Ice Barrier with my level 4 Samurai of the Ice Barrier to summon Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier (ATK 2300, DEF 1400)!"

The Cryomancer transformed into two blue rings, which passed through the Samurai of the Ice Barrier, turning the rings into six glowing stars. Suddenly a beam of light enveloped the Samurai, and it disappeared. In its place was a giant blue green dragon, hovering above the field.

Harrison stared at it in awe, "So this is one of those Synchro summons I've heard so much about…"

Frost continued. "When Brionac is on the field, I can discard any number of cards from my hand, to return the same number of cards from your side of the field to your hand. So I'll discard two cards to return your two cards back to your hand!"

Brionac glowed, and icicles burst from the ground underneath where the holograms of Harrison's cards were, sending them flying back to his hand.

"Now I'll attack you directly, go Brionac, Frozen Blast!" Frost ordered.

The dragon opened its mouth and fired shards of ice at Harrison, hitting him and embedding themselves into his flesh. He staggered back, blood already starting to leak from the wounds.

Harrison: 5700 LP Frost: 8000 LP

"I end my turn, so make yours, if you're able." Frost laughed.

Harrison pulled a shard of ice that was deeply embedded in his abdomen. "Okay…" he panted. "So that was pretty painful. But I have no plans to lose to you!"

Harrison drew a card and looked at his hand. "I play Graceful Charity! This lets me draw three cards at the cost of discarding two." Harrison swiftly did so. "Next I'll play the spell card Painful Choice!"

Five cards appeared in front of Frost; Left Leg of the Forbidden One (ATK 200, DEF 300), Right Leg of the Forbidden One (ATK 200, DEF 300), Left Arm of the Forbidden One (ATK 200, DEF 300), Card Destruction, and Mystical Space Typhoon.

"Here's how it works, I choose five cards from my deck, and out of those you choose one. Then I get to add that card to my hand while the rest go to the graveyard." Harrison explained.

"Hmm," Frost said thoughtfully. "I choose Left Arm of the Forbidden one."

Harrison nodded, adding the card to his hand while discarding the other cards. "Next I'll place three cards facedown and one monster in defense mode. Make your move Hunter."

With my facedown Backup Solider, I'll be able to add both the Left and Right Legs of Exodia in my graveyard to my hand, Harrison thought to himself. And with my two facedown Break the Seals, I'll get to add the Right Arm of the Forbidden One (ATK 200, DEF 300) from my deck to my hand! All I have to do is activate my traps on his turn and I'll win!

Frost drew a card calmly. "I'll play…"

"No you don't!" Harrison yelled. "I activate all three of my traps, Backup Solider and two copies of Break the Seal!"

"Fool, I activate my facedown card, the continuous trap called Trap Freeze!" Frost countered.

As Harrison's three facedown cards revealed themselves, they were suddenly encased in blocks of ice! "What is this? What have you done to my trap cards?" Harrison gasped.

Frost laughed. "When I activate Trap Freeze, all of your trap cards are disabled. However they remain on the field unless they are destroyed. Of course if you destroy my Trap Freeze then your traps will activate as normal and I'll lose 1000 life points for each trap my Trap Freeze froze. But I don't think you're capable of destroying it right now are you?"

Harrison frowned. "But that means…I can't summon Exodia!"

"Of course you can't. I know with Backup Solider you would have gotten those two pieces in your graveyard, and with Break the Seal you would have gotten the last piece of Exodia in your deck. But now at the very least I've delayed your strategy, and at best I've just won the duel!"

"It's not over yet!" Harrison said determinedly. "I still have cards to play, and Exodia isn't my only weapon!"

"Bold words; let's see how long it takes for you to take them back. I discard one card from my hand to return your monster back to your hand." Frost said, discarding a card.

The icicles sent Harrison's monster card back to his hand, leaving him wide open for another attack.

"In case you weren't scared enough Harrison Smith, I still have one card in my hand so I'll summon it go Shock Troops of the Ice Barrier (ATK 1500, DEF 800) in attack mode!"

A soldier covered in a blue cloak and wielding a fancy looking blue spear appeared on the field.

"Shock Troops, attack him directly!" Frost said to the soldier. He nodded, running at Harrison and plunging the spear into his abdomen. Harrison fell to one knee, clutching the wound, some blood leaking out of his mouth.

Harrison: 4200 LP Frost: 8000 LP

"I'm not done yet, Brionac attack him again!"

The dragon once again fired shards of ice at Harrison, sending him to the ground, where he lay motionless, ice shards protruding from his body.

Harrison: 1900 LP Frost: 8000 LP

"It looks like I was wrong about you Harrison Smith, you're strength is still nothing compared to the Hunters," Frost sighed.

"Don't…bet…on…it…" Harrison said, slowly getting off of the ground. There were still shards of ice embedded all over his body, and his stomach wound was bleeding profusely. He coughed, blood splattering over the ground, but he still mustered the energy to glare at Frost.

"You have heart, I'll give you that much," Frost complimented. "But heart alone won't win you this Shadow Game."

Suddenly the communicator on his wrist beeped. "Frost, there's been a changes of plans, abort the mission and rendezvous with us now!" Masque's voice said.

Frost shrugged. "Fine I'll be there shortly, Frost out."

The communicator turned off, and Frost looked at Harrison. "Well Harrison Smith, it seems as though you won't lose your soul today after all. If you're smart, you'll never see me again. Then again you seem like the emotional type so I think we will meet again very soon."

"What? No we still have a duel to finish!" Harrison snarled, as Frost seemed to melt into the ground, the ice dome surrounding the field shattering.

Harrison turned around, looking at the destroyed cars and bodies of the rest of his team, the icicles having disappeared along with Frost. He clenched his fists as he looked at the devastation, he didn't expect Julian to walk up beside him and place a hand on his shoulder.

Harrison looked at him, surprised. "Mr. Everchild?"

Julian nodded. "Call me Julian. I see your team had its own problems."

"We couldn't make it in time, did they take the Eyes?" Harrison asked.

Julian shook his head. "That's what I'm here to talk to you about."

**Basketballdude51:** To any of my old readers, Rise of the Shadow Hunters will be a rewrite of my old (and incomplete) story Yugioh: Rise of the Shadow Knights. So if any of you old readers recognize some characters or themes, then that would explain why. I took all of the criticism into consideration as I planned this rewrite out, and I assure you this story will turn out much better! And to all of you new readers, I hope you enjoy the story!

**In the next chapter, Julian observes a familiar duelist from Duel Academy face off against another powerful duelist. Will any of them become guardians of the Eyes of Cryak? The story officially starts in the next chapter: Clash of the Titans!**


	2. Clash of the Titans

**Chapter 1: Clash of the Titans**

By: Basketballdude51

(I don't own Yugioh or any of its affiliates. But I do own the plotline, OCs and original cards.)

_Original Character's First Appearance in Story_

_Anthony_

_Name: Anthony Le_

_Age: 19 _

_Hair: Black_

_Eyes: Brown_

DOMINO CITY

A brown haired boy dressed in a Slifer Duel Academy blazer was sitting on a park bench, his eyes closed, deep in thought.

"You know Jaden, you've been sitting in that same position for two hours now, and maybe it would be wise to actually do something at least remotely productive." A duel spirit appeared beside the boy. She looked demonic, with sickly pink skin, black wings, and heterochromic eyes.

Jaden Yuki opened his eyes, turning to the spirit grinning. "Well until I find something to do, this seems pretty productive to me Yubel!"

Yubel sighed. "Maybe you leaving Duel Academy on your own weren't such a good idea."

"Of course it was, now I can't be late for class anymore!" Jaden's grin widened. Then his face darkened. "Although I sure miss all the friends I made over there."

It was Yubel's turn to smile. "Perhaps a familiar blonde haired Obelisk girl too?"

"Well of course I miss Alexis! After all she's one of my closest friends, and a great duelist to boot! Although I also miss Syrus, and Hasselberry, and Jesse, and even Chazz too..." Jaden sighed. "But we had to go our own ways, it had to happen eventually."

A cute little fur ball with angelic wings appeared beside Jaden. "Coo coo," it said to Jaden.

The Slifer duelist laughed. "Well I certainly hope I get to see them again Winged Kuriboh."

"Those are some interesting Duel Spirits you have there," a voice said.

Jaden turned towards the voice and saw a muscular Asian boy looking at both Yubel and Winged Kuriboh. He wore a blue jacket over a black undershirt and jeans. On his face was a pair of glasses. He wore a duel disk on his arm.

Yubel's eyes narrowed. "You can see us?" She asked menacingly.

The boy nodded. "Take it easy, I was just passing by and noticed you two. It's not every day you see a duelist with one duel spirit, let alone two."

Jaden grinned. "Well it's not every day you see a fellow duelist who can see spirits! I'm Jaden Yuki," he said, offering his hand.

"Anthony Le, it's nice to meet you Jaden," the boy grinned back, shaking his hand.

"So you're a duelist as well then," Jaden said, motioning towards Anthony's duel disk.

"Yup," Anthony replied. "I'm one of the top duelists in the Pro League apparently; I'm kind of surprised that you haven't heard of me."

"Really? That's so cool!" Jaden exclaimed. "Wow you think I would've seen a match, or even an ad or something!"

"Um…Jaden look at the bench that you were sitting on."

Jaden turned and looked at it. On the bench was a picture of Anthony holding a box of Fruit Loops. In giant bold letters it said 'If you want to go 99-0-0 in your professional dueling career like the Legend Killer, Anthony Lee, then make sure you have Fruit Loops every morning!'.

"Oh…how didn't I notice that?" Jaden rubbed his head sheepishly as Yubel face palmed. Even Winged Kuriboh sweat dropped.

Anthony laughed. "Don't worry about it, I'm kind of glad you didn't notice it, because that means that maybe others won't see it either. To tell you the truth, I'm not even a fan of Fruit Loops."

"Well, I've been doing nothing for the past two hours. So how about we duel! I haven't had a match for fun in ages, and you must be pretty good to go 99 duels without a loss," Jaden suggested.

Anthony smirked, activating his own duel disk. "I accept your challenge! I know that your jacket signifies that you were in the Slifer dorm at Duel Academy, but you seem much more skilled than it suggests."

"Well, when I was the Academy I did win my fair share of duels!" Jaden bragged, activating his duel disk.

_That's an understatement_, Yubel thought. Then she looked at Anthony, her eyes widening_. I sense...that this duelist has great power!_

Neither the duelists nor the duel spirits noticed Julian leaning against a tree, watching from afar. _Jaden Yuki…the duelist that defeated the Shadow Riders, the Society of Light, and the Darkness, I'm glad I found him so easily. And his opponent, Anthony Le, his exploits in the Pro League circuit are legendary, but there's something about him…maybe both of these duelists can stop the Shadow Hunters, _he thought.

Jaden: 8000 LP Anthony: 8000 LP

A coin appeared above both duelists. "You can call it Jaden," Anthony offered.

"Alright then, tails!" Jaden called.

The coin landed on tails, causing Jaden to smile. "Then Anthony, it's time to get your game on!" He said, drawing a card. "I'll place one monster in defense mode, and throw down a face down! It's your move."

Anthony drew a card calmly. "I summon Jain, Lightsworn Paladin (ATK 1800, DEF 1200) in attack mode!

A warrior, wearing white armor with gold trim appeared on the field, carrying a sword and a shield designed similarly to the armor.

"Jain, attack his defense monster, Lightsworn Sword!"

The paladin nodded, leaping forward and slashing Jaden's defense monster, revealing a hulking monster made out of bricks (ATK 800, DEF 2000).

"Ha my Elemental Hero Clayman's defense is too much for your monster!" Jaden smirked, only for the Paladin's ATK to increase to 2100! The warrior slashed Elemental Hero Clayman, causing it to shatter!

Anthony shook his head. "Whenever my Lightsworn Paladin attacks, he gains 300 extra attack points during the damage step only."

"Not bad," Jaden remarked. "But I activate my trap, Hero Signal! Now I can summon any level four or lower Elemental Hero monster from my deck, and I'm choosing this guy, Elemental Hero Avian (ATK 1000, DEF 1000) in attack mode!"

A green feathered man with wings appeared in place of the slain Clayman.

Anthony shrugged. "I'll end my turn, which causes me to lose the top two cards of my deck thanks to Jain's effect," he said, putting the top two cards of his deck into his graveyard.

"Alright, my turn!" Jaden said. "I play the spell Polymerization, to fuse my Elemental Hero Avian, with the Elemental Hero Burstinatrix (ATK 1200, DEF 800) in my hand to summon Elemental Hero Flame Wingman (ATK 2100, DEF 1200)!"

Avian and Burstinatrix got sucked into a massive vortex; a moment later out popped a green-skinned warrior with a large wing covering one arm, a long red tail, and a red dragon for another arm.

"But that's not all; I'll also play Elemental Hero Sparkman (ATK 1600, DEF 1400) in attack mode!"

A superhero with lightning flashing all around his body appeared beside Flame Wingman.

"Now go Flame Wingman, attack his Paladin!"

The monster charged up a large fireball in its dragon arm, and then it fired at Anthony's monster, incinerating it completely.

"And my Flame Wingman has a pretty sweet effect! When he destroys a monster, you take damage equal to that monster's attack points!" Jaden grinned.

Flame Wingman fired another blast directly at Anthony, causing him to take a step back.

Jaden: 8000 LP Anthony: 5900 LP

"But I'm not done yet! Sparkman, attack him directly!"

Sparkman charged up a ball of electricity, which he sent towards Anthony, hitting him and causing him to hold his chest.

Jaden: 8000 LP Anthony: 4300 LP

"To end I'll play one card facedown." Jaden finished, leaving him with no cards in his hand.

Anthony chuckled. "I was right about you Jaden; your ranking at the academy really was meaningless."

"Aw shucks," Jaden grinned. "What can I say; dueling is what I do best!"

Anthony nodded. "Well you've shown me some of your skills, so allow me to show you mine!" He drew a card quickly. Placing it in his hand, he said, "I'll remove my Jain, Lightsworn Paladin and the Mystic Tomato (ATK 1400, DEF 1100) in my graveyard to summon Lightpulsar Dragon (ATK 2500, DEF 1500) in attack mode!"

A light blue dragon with balls of light swirling around it appeared onto the field.

"But that's not all! I play the spell card, Monster Gate! With this I can pick up cards from the top of my deck until I get to a monster card. If that monster can be normal summoned, I can special summon it!" Anthony continued, as a giant portal appeared in front of him.

Anthony looked at the top card of his deck, and then he showed it to Jaden, revealing a Graceful Charity spell card. He slid it into his graveyard then picked up another, this time revealing Red Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon (ATK 2800, DEF 2400)!

Anthony grinned as a gigantic dragon that resembled the Red Eyes Darkness Dragon, only covered in metal, flew out of the portal, landing beside the Lightpulsar Dragon.

Jaden looked at the two dragons, awestruck. "No way! You got two strong dragons out in one turn! Man you really are deserving of that Fruit Loops ad!"

Anthony chuckled. "Well I think I deserve a little more than a cereal ad. But I'm not done yet! Red Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon's special effect lets me special summon a dragon monster from my graveyard or my hand, so I'll summon the Blue Eyes White Dragon (ATK 3000, DEF 2500) that was sent to my graveyard by my Paladin's effect before!"

This time the dragon made famous by Seto Kaiba appeared onto the field, letting out a roar. "Whoa how did you get a Blue Eyes White Dragon?" Jaden asked, ogling the dragon. "Only Kaiba has the existing copies!"

"Well in case you didn't know, Pegasus and Kaiba don't exactly have…a good relationship with each other, so one day Pegasus decided to reprint the Blue Eyes series, both to spite Kaiba, and to garner more popularity. But they are still extremely rare." Anthony explained.

"Well then, this is my lucky day!" Jaden grinned goofily. "I get to destroy a legendary monster, and beat a Pro League duelist all in one duel!"

"Jaden, in case you didn't notice all those summons were special summons…so now I'll normal summon Infernal Dragon (ATK 2000, DEF 0) in attack mode!)

A fourth dragon appeared, this one a wicked looking dark green one with a spiked tail.

"In case you didn't realize it Jaden, you're about to lose most of your life points! Go Lightpulsar Dragon; attack his Flame Wingman with Light Pulse Blast!" Anthony ordered.

The dragon fired a beam of light from its mouth, and then fired it at the fusion monster, but before the beam could hit Flame Wingman Jaden yelled "Not so fast, I activate Hero Barrier, to stop your attack!"

Anthony frowned as his dragon's attack was repelled by an invisible barrier. "Fine you stopped one attack, but I still have three more! Red Eyes, destroy his Flame Wingman!"

The metallic dragon opened its mouth, firing blasts of dark fire at Flame Wingman, causing it to explode!

Jaden: 7300 LP Anthony: 4300 LP

"Infernal Dragon, attack his Sparkman!"

The dark green dragon lashed at Sparkman with its tail, impaling the hero.

Jaden: 6900 LP Anthony: 4300 LP

"Now for the best part, Blue Eyes, attack Jaden directly with White Lightning attack!"

The iconic dragon opened its mouth, firing a blast of white lightning at Jaden, sending him to one knee.

Jaden: 3900 LP Anthony: 4300 LP

"After placing one card face down, I'll end my turn. And since Infernal Dragon attacked, it is sent to the graveyard now." Anthony concluded, and suddenly Infernal Dragon exploded.

Jaden got back up, smoke radiating from his body. Then he looked at Anthony, a big smile on his face. "Wow you really are good! To summon so many powerful dragons and take out half my life points in one turn, I totally see how you got 99 wins! But that doesn't mean I'm giving up in my deck or on this duel!"

"It'll take a miracle for you to comeback from this," Anthony pointed out. "But give me your best shot!"

Jaden drew a card, and then he smirked. "I guess miracles do happen, and I'm gonna prove it! I play Miracle Fusion!"

Anthony's eyes widened. "No!"

Jaden grinned. "This card lets me remove fusion material monsters for an 'Elemental Hero' monster from my side of the field or graveyard from play to summon the appropriate fusion monster, so I'll remove my Elemental Hero Flame Wingman and my Elemental Hero Sparkman, to summon Elemental Hero Shining Flare Wingman (ATK 2500, DEF 2100)!"

A massive vortex appeared on the field, and the spirits of Flame Wingman and Sparkman appeared, only to get sucked in the vortex, creating a bright light that blinded Anthony. When the light subsided, Anthony looked up, his eyes widening as he saw a being dressed in white armor, with steel wings protruding out of his back.

Suddenly the being glowed and its ATK went up to 3400!

"For every Elemental Hero monster in my graveyard, my Flare Wingman gains 300 attack points, pretty sweet right?" Jaden explained.

"Shit, then it's stronger than all of my monsters!" Anthony swore.

"Got that right, and if I attack your Lightpulsar Dragon I'll win since my Flare Wingman has the same effect as the original Flame Wingman! So go Elemental Hero Shining Flare Wingman, attack Lightpulsar Dragon with Shining Surge Flash!"

As the winged warrior flew towards Lightpulsar Dragon Anthony yelled, "Not on my watch! I activate Staunch Defender, to redirect your attack to my Blue Eyes White Dragon!"

The winged warrior flew forwards, its arm glowing with electricity, but at the last second it changed its course to the Blue Eyes White Dragon instead, punching it, causing it to fall to the ground and shatter. The force of the attack sent Anthony sliding a few feet back.

Jaden: 3900 LP Anthony: 900 LP

"Ow…that's gonna leave a mark," Anthony grimaced, as the monster flew back to Jaden's side of the field.

"I'll finish up with a facedown card." Jaden said. "It took a last minute trap card to save you, so now who has the upper hand in this duel?"

Anthony laughed. "I'm quite impressed Jaden, you managed to take control of the duel, and bring my life points down so low. I've never been pushed in a duel like this for a while! But even though you proved that miracles do happen, I'll prove that it takes more than that to beat me!"

Yubel's eyes narrowed as she looked at Anthony _Will we now see some of this hidden power that he possesses?_

He drew a card, and then he grinned. "First I play Pot of Greed to draw two cards!"

After drawing two cards Anthony said, "Well Jaden, this duel has been a blast, and you've been a strong opponent, but I'm about to beat you nonetheless!"

"Bring it! I can't wait to see what you're gonna do!" Jaden grinned. "Because whether win or lose, this has been one of the best duels I've had in ages!"

Anthony smiled. "I agree with you, but all good things come to an end! I'll use Red Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon's effect to play…the original Red Eyes Black Dragon (ATK 2400, DEF 2000)!"

This time the original Red Eyes Black Dragon Appeared on the field, "But I'm not going to leave it out here for long, because I sacrifice it to summon…RED EYES DARKNESS DRAGON (ATK 2400, DEF 2000)!"

The red-black skeletal dragon was engulfed in black flames, then suddenly it grew, and orange lines started appearing throughout its body, along with red segments in its wings and upper legs.

"For every dragon in my graveyard, Red Eyes Darkness Dragon gains 300 extra attack points, and right now there's three: my Infernal Dragon, the Blue Eyes White Dragon you destroyed, and the Red Eyes I tribute to summon it." Anthony said, as the dragon's ATK increased to 3300.

"That's still 100 ATK points short pal!" Jaden grinned.

Anthony nodded. "I know so that's why I'll now sacrifice my Lightpulsar Dragon, and my Red Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon to summon a second Blue Eyes White Dragon (ATK 3000, DEF 2500)!"

"What you have a second one?" Jaden gasped, as the legendary dragon once again appeared.

"Nope," Anthony shook his head. "I have three."

Jaden's eyes bugged out of his head. "That's so cool! This is kinda like facing Kaiba, but not really…if you know what I mean!"

"That's quite the comparison, one I'm not sure I deserve yet. But what I do know is that since I sent two more dragons to the graveyard, my Red Eyes Darkness Dragon gains an additional 600 ATK points now!" Anthony pointed out, as the Red Eyes Darkness Dragon's attack increased to 3900!

"But that's not all, when Lightpulsar Dragon is sent from the field to the graveyard, I'm allowed to summon a level 5 or higher dark dragon monster from my graveyard, so welcome back Red Eyes Black Dragon (ATK 2400, DEF 2000)!"

The same dragon that Anthony sacrificed to summon Red Eyes Darkness Dragon appeared on the field again, letting out a roar.

"Sure my Red Eyes Darkness Dragon loses 300 ATK points, but at 3600 it's still good enough to destroy your Flare Wingman! Then a direct attack by my Blue Eyes and Red Eyes will end this!" Anthony smirked. "It was a good duel Jaden, but it ends here. Red Eyes Darkness Dragon, attack his Shining Flare Wingman with Darkfire Inferno!"

The dragon opened its mouth, firing a massive blast of black fire at Shining Flare Wingman. As the attack was about to hit, Jaden grinned. "I don't plan on going down that easily, activate trap card, Clash of the Titans!"

"What!" Anthony exclaimed.

Shining Flare Wingman flew directly into the dark fire, heading towards Red Eyes Darkness Dragon, somehow not being incinerated by the attack. It kept on flying until it flew full speed straight into the dragon, causing both of them to explode, and sending both duelists to the ground!

Jaden: 0 LP Anthony: 0 LP

As the smoke cleared, the holograms shut off and both duelists sat up. "Care to explain what just happened?" Anthony asked.

Jaden smirked. "I could only activate Clash of the Titans when two monsters with 3000 or more ATK points were doing battle. Then both monsters are destroyed, and both duelists take damage equal to their combined attack points, in this case 7000 points of damage to the both of us."

Anthony laughed. "So it was a draw then."

"I did say thatI won my fair share of duels at Duel Academy," Jaden grinned. "Although I'll admit, you had me worried with those powerful dragons of yours!"

"Hey I was pretty scared of your Elemental Hero fusions, that Shining Flare Wingman is one tough monster," Anthony chuckled.

For a moment both of them sat on the ground laughing, then they heard a rustling sound and turned to the spot, revealing Julian, who was clapping. "Bravo that was an excellent display of Duel Monsters right there!"

"Aw man you're embarrassing me," Jaden beamed.

"Hey I know you…Julian Endchild, the CEO of that big shot company Endchild Enterprises!" Anthony realized.

Julian bowed his head slightly. "Yes that is me. I couldn't help but notice that duel the two of you just had, it was quite impressive."

Anthony shrugged. "It's a rare thing to be able to find strong opponents, let alone to duel them just for the fun of the game."

"Trust me, I've been in enough serious duels in my life to understand that statement," Jaden agreed.

Julian nodded. "I understand Mr. Yuki, after all duels with souls or lives on the line probably are not the most…enjoyable of experiences."

Both Jaden's and Anthony's eyes widened, "What did you say?" Jaden asked, narrowing his eyes.

Julian looked at the two of them for a moment. Then he said, "Forgive me for being the bearer of bad news Jaden, but I am here because I need you to duel for high stakes once again." Then he turned to Anthony. "And I sense that you are no stranger to Shadow Games either, and after witnessing your display of power, I'm here to ask you for the same thing."

"Whoa hold on a minute," Jaden interrupted. "Anthony you know about all that stuff too?"

"Yes I do, that's one reason why I can see Duel Spirits Jaden," Anthony answered, still regarding Julian. "But what are you talking about Mr. Endchild?"

"Please, call me Julian," Julian replied. "And I can't tell you everything right now, but I can give you a very bare outline."

"We're listening," Jaden said, looking at Anthony, who nodded.

Julian fiddled with his tie, and then he said "I am recruiting ten duelists to guard ten artifacts known as the Eyes of the Cryak. For you see there is a very dangerous organization known as the Shadow Hunters who wish to take them. Already the Shadow Hunters tried to take them once, but thanks to certain wards, they can only be won in a duel against chosen guardians."

Jaden nodded, "Seems familiar," he said, his mind flashing back to his time guarding the Spirit Keys. "But what's so important about these 'Eyes of the Cryak' or whatever?"

Julian smiled sadly. "That I will not tell you exactly until all of the guardians have been assembled, but for now you can be satisfied with the knowledge that if the Shadow Hunters gain possession of the Eyes, all realms, worlds, dimensions, whatever you want to call them, will be destroyed completely."

Anthony's and Jaden's eyes widened. "That's some pretty heavy stuff," Anthony remarked.

"That's one way to put it," Julian said. "I already have found one guardian, and my associates are on their way to make this same proposal to seven other duelists, some of them from Duel Academy that you should be familiar with Jaden, and a few others that you should know Anthony."

"Really, some Duel Academy Duelists?" Jaden questioned. "Who?"

Julian smiled. "Zane Truesdale, Aster Phoenix, Jesse Anderson and Alexis Rhodes."

Jaden nodded. _Alexis…_he said to himself. To Julian he flashed thumbs up. "Well you can definitely count me in! Saving the world and reuniting with my friends is way too good for me to pass up!"

"Well I guess I don't really have a choice if the stakes are as high as you said," Anthony shrugged. "But you said you found seven others, if you add Jaden and I to that then you just have nine duelists."

"Ah well…we're still looking for a final duelist strong enough." Julian answered.

Anthony grinned. "Well then what would you say if I told you I knew one that is a very, very powerful duelist, and will willingly join us?"

"You know someone like this?" Julian replied. "Because then I would say that we have found our final guardian then."

The grin on Anthony's face widened. "I do, and all it'll take is one phone call," he said, taking a cell phone out of his pocket and dialing a number.

**Basketballdude51**: Well with this chapter, six of the guardians are now known! I know the duels are a bit short (at least in my opinion), but they'll get lengthier as the story goes on, as right now I'm just introducing the guardians and OCs.

**Who is Anthony calling? Well in the next chapter you'll find out, and he wasn't kidding when he said that this person was powerful! Find out who it is in the next chapter called: Don't Judge a Book by Its Cover!**


	3. Don't Judge a Book By Its Cover

**Chapter 2: Don't Judge a Book by Its Cover**

By: Basketballdude51

(I don't own Yugioh.)

Author's Note: Some parts of this chapter take place during the same time as the events of last chapter.

_Original Character's First Appearance in Story_

_Isabella_

_Name: Isabella Cebrien_

_Age: 19_

_Hair: Dark brown_

_Eyes: Green_

LONDON, ENGLAND

"How long does it take to get ready?" A middle aged man grumbled. He had brown hair, which was just starting to show signs of thinning, but even in his mid-forties, he remained handsome, with muscles quite noticeable under his dress shirt and dress pants.

"Settle down Richard dear, you have no idea how hard it is for a girl to get ready! Anyways we still have time so let Isabella dress in peace." A woman with jet black hair responded. She herself wore a baby blue dress, which even in her middle age, showed off a still attractive body.

The two of them were sitting on expensive leather couches in a very prestigious and huge looking living room. A diamond chandelier hung overhead, while various trophies and trinkets were kept in glass cases. Various pieces of fine art hung on the walls. To complete the room was a 70 inch plasma television.

The man sighed. "I wanted a son, that way I wouldn't have to pay so much money for clothes, or make up, or shoes and I wouldn't have to wait two hours to go to a perfectly normal dinner!"

"Really dear, you don't mean that. Anyways Isabella doesn't spend that much money on clothes." The woman said.

"Just this month alone she spent over 743 pounds (the equivalent of roughly 1200 dollars) on shoes! Just shoes! I own only three pairs of shoes; one for work, one for special occasions, and one for exercising! She filled up an entire closet with just shoes! I've only filled up half a closet…with all of my clothes!" The man exclaimed.

"I heard that father!" A voice which was slightly altered by a combination of English, French and Spanish accents said.

A breathtakingly gorgeous girl walked into the room, dressed in an exquisite looking white blouse with sapphires around the front collar, as well as a black leather skirt which ended a few inches above her knees, and black high heeled knee high boots. Her long, brown hair hung down freely past her shoulders, and a golden locket hung around her neck.

"Isabella!" The man said, startled. "I thought you wouldn't be done yet!"

Isabella frowned. "Well father, since I knew you would complain about my preparation time, I skipped doing anything with my hair, as you can see," she said, tossing some of her locks. "But from what I heard, you were saying some mean things about me!"

"Uh…shall I buy you more clothes later?" The father suggested, mentally praying that his attempt to placate his daughter would work.

Isabella glared at him for a few moments, and then she gave a big smile. "Oh thank you father, you make me so happy that I have the greatest father in the whole wide world!"

"Uhm…thank you sweetie…" he said nervously. In his head he thought to himself, _thank God that Isabella gets distracted easily at the mention of clothes_. Then he said, "We should head to dinner now, after all the Hasselfields are probably waiting."

Isabella rolled her eyes. "Do I have to go? All you old people do is talk about how much money you make, and about what you did as children…which utterly bores me to death."

"You're exaggerating," the woman said. "Anyways, you have that wonderful Edward boy there to talk to! He's so perfect too! Rich, handsome…he even did well in the national cricket tournament from what I heard! He would be a perfect to have as a son in law!" she suggested.

"Mother, all that boy does is brag about how much wealth his family has, and when he's not he keeps on trying to get me to go on a date with him! Add to the fact that he thinks that he's entitled to everything, and you get a boy that I never, ever would like to have a conversation with, let alone have a relationship with." Isabella explained, wrinkling her nose at the end for emphasis.

Her mother sighed, defeated. "Well at least I tried."

Isabella turned on her heel and started to leave the room. "Let's get this over with," she said, "The sooner we get there, the sooner we can leave."

BOISDALE OF BELGRAVIA, LONDON

Boisdale of Belgravia was one of the fanciest restaurants in London, with old fashioned hardwood tables and numerous framed pictures hanging off the red walls.

Isabella's family walked into the reception area, and immediately one of the hosts gave a polite smile. "Ah Mr. and Mrs. Cebrien, and Isabella, come right this way," he said.

The host led the three up a flight of stairs, leading them to a private patio deck, with a table for six set up, three of the chairs already occupied; one by a blonde haired man, the other by a dirty blonde haired woman, and the third a by a blonde boy the same age as Isabella.

"A waiter will be here to take your order soon, but if you need anything, don't hesitate to ask," the host bowed, leaving the deck.

"Thank you," Mr. Cebrien nodded. Then he turned to the other family at their table. "Ah Benjamin, it's a pleasure to see you again!" He said, shaking hands with the man. "And Esme, you still don't look like you've aged a bit!" He lightly kissed the woman on the cheek.

"You're too kind," Benjamin smiled. Then he looked at Isabella. "And look at how much you've grown Isabella!" He pointed out. "That's quite the beautiful daughter you have there," he complimented.

Isabella bowed her head slightly. "Thank you very much sir," she said politely.

"Isabella you remember my son Edward right?" Benjamin pulled his son over to her. "Edward come over here!"

The boy went over to her; he took her hand and kissed it. "Hello there Isabella," he said, a smirk on his face.

Her face remained expressionless, but in a polite way. "Hello Edward."

Both families sat down, with Edward sitting beside Isabella. The waiter walked in, pouring water into their glasses, and then asked "The Hasselfield's have already ordered, so what would you three like to order tonight?"

"The Classic Boisdale, and a bottle of Louis Roederer Cristal 2002 Reims please," Mr. Cebrien said.

"The Classic Caesar salad, Ortiz anchovies & shaved Parmesan with lobster and water," Mrs. Cebrien replied.

Isabella didn't even glance at the menu. "I'll have the usual, the 8oz top rump certified premium Black Angus USDA 150 day corn fed & Béarnaise sauce, and a glass of water please."

"Excellent choices, dinner will arrive shortly," the waiter bowed, taking the menus and leaving.

The parents immediately burst into conversation with each other, while Edward turned to Isabella. "So, did you hear that my father just bought a yacht?"

"No I didn't," Isabella replied, fiddling with her fork, not even bothering to glance at Edward.

Edward was taken aback, but quickly regained his composure. "Well he did, and he said that I could take it out this weekend, perhaps you'd like to join me? There's a lot of rooms on it too, two bathrooms, living room, entertainment room, kitchen, and a bedroom too," he said, emphasizing the word 'bedroom'.

Isabella kept on fiddling with the fork for a few moments, Edward looking at her expectedly. Finally she looked up at him, a puzzled look on her face. "Oh did you say something? I was too busy examining this fork; it's quite interesting you know."

For a moment Edward looked at her, at a loss for words. Then he growled. "How dare you disrespect me," he hissed under his breath. "Who do you think you are? My family makes millions of pounds a year! I am the national champion of England in cricket! You should be grateful that by some miracle I asked you to accompany me on my yacht! But I'm a generous fellow, so I'll give you one more chance, would you like to join me this weekend on a very LUXERIOUS yacht, and possibly be honored enough to go to bed with me?"

Isabella yawned. "Could you repeat that please? I started getting sleepy as soon as you opened your mouth."

Edward turned red. "Why you…" he growled.

Isabella brightened as two waiters came in, carrying food. "Oh yay food's here!"

The boy clenched his fists but said nothing, as the waiters set down food in front of the six people. The adults continued their conversation, while Isabella ate her food ravenously, and Edward picked at it sullenly.

"Ah that was such a great meal," Mr. Hasselfield said, patting his now slightly bulging belly. He looked at Isabella, "I wonder where all that food goes young lady, most girls are afraid of eating too much for fear of gaining weight, but you, on the other hand, you eat like there's no tomorrow!"

"Well sir," Isabella said quietly. "I do get a lot of physical activity daily, after all I play soccer, fence, volleyball, plus I go to the gym regularly and I am also one of the top ranked duelists in the Pro League."

"Ah well, you must be quite the busy little lady then!" Mr. Hasselfield boomed. "Reminds me of your father back in the day…"

The adults went back into their own little conversation.

Isabella sighed, and then she got up. When her mother looked at her quizzically she quickly said "Just going to the bathroom mother."

Mrs. Cebrien nodded, then turned back towards the conversation and continued chatting away.

Isabella walked down the stairs, but instead of heading towards the bathroom, she walked out of the restaurant, into the warm night. Whistling a cheerful tune to herself, she strolled down the street. Suddenly she heard a scream!

She ran towards where the sound originated, and she ended up in a back alley. She saw a dome of darkness that was just subsiding. It finally disappeared, revealing three men dressed in hoodies and jeans, and another man dressed in a red suit, top hat and red mask which only covered the top half of his face who also wielded a duel disk. In front of them, on her knees was a cute little girl, no older than eight, she also carried a duel disk.

"You lost the duel kid, so now you have to pay up…with your soul!" The duel disk wielding man said, holding up a blank Duel Monster's card.

The girl screamed, as a ghostly version of herself flew out of her body, and into the card, leaving her body to fall motionless to the ground.

"Give her back her soul this instant!" Isabella shouted, walking over to where the girl's body lay.

The men chuckled. "Oh look at what we have here, well we could use some form of celebrating with you pretty," the mask wearing man grinned sickly. "After all taking her soul was a lot of hard work!"

Isabella rolled her eyes, the man's remark bouncing off of her. "I'm giving you idiots one last chance; we can do this the easy way…or the hard way."

One of the other men gave a nasally laugh. "Oh you're a spunky one aren't ya cutie? Well I like my girls with some fight in them." He took a few steps toward her, only to receive a kick to the crotch, causing him to bend forwards in pain. Isabella followed up with a knee to the man's face, sending him to the ground, completely knocked out.

"So I guess it's the hard way then." Isabella shrugged, as the two other hooded men surrounded her, one of them drawing a switchblade from his pocket.

"Get her!" The masked man ordered.

The man with the knife went forwards, trying to slash Isabella, only for her to grab his knife arm and spin into him, smashing her elbow into his face. The other man threw a haymaker at her, only for her to duck, causing his fist to smash into his partner's face! The knife wielder fell down, rendered unconscious. The other man tried to grab her, only for her to punch him in the gut, and then grab him, throwing him backwards a few feet with uncommon strength, causing him to land on his stomach. The man had just gotten to his knees when the girl ran towards him, and jumped about three feet in the air, hitting a flying knee to his face and shattering his jaw!

Before the man even hit the ground Isabella already turned towards the masked duelist, who was staring at her, his mouth agape. "Now I know that beating you to a pulp won't get that poor girl's soul back, so let's make a deal," she proposed evenly. "We duel, and if I win, you restore her soul, if you win, then you can have mine."

The man recovered slightly. "I accept that challenge, although you would have been better off trying to physically beat me," he said, activating his duel disk.

"It doesn't matter, either way I would do it easily." Isabella said calmly, taking out a tiny spherical object out of her pocket. She pressed a button on it, and it seemed to unfold numerous times, until it formed an almost regular sized, albeit slightly thinner, duel disk. Then she took a deck out of her pocket and slid it into the deck slot.

The man's eyes narrowed. "You must be pretty rich to have one of those pocket duel disks."

She shrugged. "If you have money, might as well use it right?"

"Hm…maybe after I'm done with your body…I'll ransom it for a nice penny after I've sent your soul to the Shadow Realm of course," the man said thoughtfully.

Isabella frowned. "Unfortunately I don't think they serve my favorite truffles in the Shadow Realm, so that won't work out well for me."

"Oh you are a spunky one! Well enough talk, duel on!" The man shouted, a dome of darkness engulfing the two duelists.

Isabella: 8000 LP Man: 8000 LP

The holographic coin appeared above the duelists. "Since I'm not such a bad guy, I'll let you call the coin toss," The man offered.

"Fine then, heads!" Isabella called, as the coin landed on hands. "Well, since I won the toss I will go first," she said, drawing a card. "I summon Hieratic Dragon of Gebeb (ATK 1800, DEF 400) in attack mode!"

A ball of light appeared on Isabella's side of the field, temporarily blinding the man. Then it died down, revealing a yellow dragon with orange armor, with the Eye of Wdjat on its wings.

"What the hell is that thing?" The man's eyes widened. "I've never heard of this monster before!"

"What would you like me to do? Give you an 800 page book explaining the Hieratic Dragons?" Isabella asked sarcastically.

"You're getting more annoying by the second," the man snarled. "Just finish your turn so I can destroy you already!"

"Well I would've been done my turn by now, if a certain shadow duelist didn't complain about his own incompetence about Duel Monsters knowledge," Isabella said matter of factly.

"Damn you!" The man swore.

Isabella continued as if he said nothing. "To finish my turn, I'll set one card facedown."

"Finally!" The man growled, drawing a card viciously. He sneered as he saw it. "I play the spell card, Card Destruction! Now we have to discard our entire hands, and then draw as many cards as we discarded."

The man slid five cards into his graveyard and drew the same amount, while Isabella did the same, except with only four cards.

Suddenly three orbs of darkness burst out of the ground, each of them turning into a monster: one was a hideous grey fiend with a spear; the second was another ugly fiend who wielded a sword and seemed to resemble some sort of nobility; and the third was a hulking fiend, dressed in gold armor and wielding a battle axe.

"Would you care to explain how you managed to summon three things that are uglier than you?" Isabella questioned, raising an eyebrow at the sudden appearance of the monsters.

"I'm going to enjoy sending these monsters after you. And as for how they were summoned; Beiige, Vanguard of Dark World (ATK 1600, DEF 1300), Sillva, Warlord of Dark World (ATK 2300, DEF 1400), and Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World (ATK 2300, DEF 1400) are all special summoned when they are discarded from my hand. Now if it was done by one of your cards, they would be even deadlier, but this will do." The man smirked. "And also, I'll summon Broww, Huntsman of Dark World (ATK 1400, DEF 800)!"

Another fiend appeared, this one carrying a bow. "So, now that you've realized what you're facing, do you still got any wise comments?"

Isabella stared at the four monsters intently for about a minute, and then she said "Well I think I realized why you use these monsters, they too must know what it's like to be utterly repulsive!"

"That's it; I'm shutting you up right here! Sillva, attack her little dragon!" The man shouted.

The sword wielding fiend ran towards the dragon, only for Isabella to yell "I activate Negate Attack, to stop your attack and end the battle phase!"

Suddenly the monster stopped going to attack, and instead walked back to its original spot.

"You little bitch! All you've done is delay the inevitable, but for now I'll place two facedown cards and call it a turn."

"You must feel pretty special right now, after all you've summoned three monsters, and two of them are strong enough to destroy my dragon. You turned the disadvantage of Card Destruction into field advantage for yourself quite easily." The girl analyzed.

A cocky smile emerged on the man's face as his ego inflated. "Yeah! Do you finally see how you have no chance to win now?"

Isabella started giggling. "No, you see I still have a 100% chance of winning this duel, I just wanted to build up your confidence so I could destroy it silly man!"

He frowned. "You can't get past my three monsters!"

Isabella drew a card, and then she said "I play Monster Reborn, to summon my Fire Ant Ascator (ATK 700, DEF 1300) from my graveyard!"

A giant ant appeared beside Hieratic Dragon of Gebeb.

"Wait how did that thing get there?" The shadow duelist spluttered.

Isabella smirked "Did you so soon forget your Card Destruction spell? Anyways, now I'll also play Premature Burial! So now by paying 800 life points, I can summon another monster from my graveyard! So I think I will summon my Hieratic Seal of the Dragon King (ATK 0, DEF 0) in attack mode!"

Isabella: 7200 LP Man: 8000 LP

A burst of light appeared in front of Isabella, and out of it emerged a giant golden stone, with intricate symbols and silver Eye of Wdjat on it.

The man looked at the monster for a moment, and then he burst out in laughter. "That thing has got to be the worst excuse for a level six monster that I've ever seen! It has no attack or defense points!" He mocked, doubled over in laughter.

"It has no special abilities either," Isabella smiled. "So I guess it will be more humiliating for you when it plays a crucial role in your defeat."

"What?" The man stopped laughing for a second.

Isabella held up a finger. "In one moment, you'll see what I mean. But for right now I'll tribute my Hieratic Dragon of Gebeb, to special summon Hieratic Dragon of Nebthet (ATK 2000, DEF 1600)!"

The orange dragon vanished, only to be replaced with a purple dragon in gold armor.

"Now here's the fun part, when I tribute Gebeb for any reason, I'm allowed to special summon a normal 'Hieratic' monster from my deck, hand or graveyard, so I will use that effect to summon Hieratic Seal of the Sun Dragon Overlord (ATK 0, DEF 0)!"

A burst of light appeared again, and this time an even larger golden stone appeared, resembling the other one in its designs. However its Eye of Wdjat was red, not silver.

"Now all of those were special summons, so now I will use my normal summon to bring out Supay (ATK 300, DEF 100) in attack position!" Isabella continued.

A floating demon mask with tusks and horns appeared on the field.

The man raised his eyebrows. "So you summoned three weaklings, and there is only one monster that is only strong enough to destroy my Beiige, let alone the others. I'm so scared."

Isabella's lips curled into a big smile. "This is the part where I tell you that Supay and Fire Ant Ascator are both Tuner monsters."

"What!" The man exclaimed.

Invisible to him was the blue aura that surrounded the girl. "I will now tune my level one Supay with my Level 6 Hieratic Seal of the Dragon King, to Synchro summon my level 6 Moon Dragon Quilla (ATK 2500, DEF 2000)!"

Supay transformed into two blue rings, which passed through the Hieratic Seal of the Dragon King, turning the rings into seven glowing stars. Suddenly a blue beam of light from the sky enveloped the large stone, and it disappeared, and in its place was a giant blue head of a Mayan moon statue, with four blue dragon heads attached to it.

The man stepped backwards in fear, not seeing the fact that the aura around Isabella had now turned orange. "That wasn't even the best part! I will now tune my level 3 Fire Ant Ascator with my level 8 Hieratic Seal of the Sun Dragon Overlord to Synchro summon another dragon, this one being Sun Dragon Inti (ATK 3000, DEF 2800)!"

This time Fire Ant Ascator was the monster that transformed into rings, 3 orange rings to be exact. The rings passed through the larger Hieratic Seal, turning the rings into 11 stars. An orange beam of light shot down from the sky, engulfing the stars, and in their place was a yellow Mayan statue head that resembled the sun, with four red dragon heads attached to it.

"Oh shit!" The man paled.

"Go Nebthet; destroy his Beiige, Vanguard of Dark World!" Isabella ordered.

The dragon grabbed the fiend, and ripped it apart with its mouth.

Isabella: 7200 LP Man: 7600 LP

"Moon Dragon Quilla, attack Sillva with Mayan Moon Curse!"

The blue dragon heads all charged up a blast of blue energy, then they simultaneously fired them all at the sword wielding Dark World monster, destroying it.

Isabella: 7200 LP Man: 7400 LP

"Now Sun Dragon Inti, attack Goldd with Mayan Sun Blaze!"

The red dragon heads each fired a blast of fire at the gold armored monster, causing it to let out an inhuman scream as it exploded.

Isabella: 7200 LP Man: 6700 LP

"With that my turn is over," Isabella finished coolly.

The man trembled, as he drew a card, looking fearfully at the two Mayan dragons. However after glancing at the card he drew he started to laugh maniacally. "Hahaha…HAHAHAHAH YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT KIND OF POWER I'M ABOUT TO UNLEASH ON YOU!"

"Really, and what is this power you speak of?" She asked inquisitively. "Are you going to summon something even uglier?"

"You may still have some insults left in you, but that'll change mark my words!" He cackled. "First I'll activate Call of the Haunted, to bring my Goldd!"

The hulking fiend appeared on the field once again.

"But that's not all, now I play Dark World Dealings! This spell lets both of us draw a card, at the cost of discarding one too."

Both duelists did so, except when the man did it another hideous fiend appeared this one with wings.

"Since the card I discarded was Latinum, Exarch of Dark World (ATK 1500, DEF 2400) I can summon it to the field." The man grinned.

Isabella yawned. "Nice, after I did you a favor and made your side of the field less ugly, you managed to make it disgusting once again. But this is getting old now, all you do is discard your own monsters, and then you get to summon them. That's fine and dandy, except none of your monsters can beat me Sun or Moon dragons."

"I'M GETTING TO THAT!" The man exploded. "You must be the most annoying duelist I've ever had the misfortune to face! I'll be doing the world a favor when I take your soul!"

"No need to get your knickers in a twist," Isabella shrugged. "But I am going to tell you right now that I am not going to the Shadow Realm."

"You'll retract that statement after you see what I do next!" The man smirked. "I now summon Gren, Tactician of Dark World (ATK 300, DEF 500) in attack mode!"

A human sized, grey, shriveled looking creature wearing a green cape appeared on the man's side of the field.

"NOW PREPARE TO MEET THE MONSTER THAT WILL ANHILATE YOU! I SACRIFICE GREN, BROWW, and LATINUM TO SUMMON… RAVIEL, LORD OF PHANTASMS (ATK 4000, DEF 4000)!"

For the first time in the duel, Isabella looked surprised, and a little bit afraid. "Impossible, those cards were sealed under Duel Academy!"

The three Dark World monsters turned into balls of dark energy, which combined to form a massive one. After a few seconds, the darkness gave shape to an enormous fiend which looked like a fiendish version of Obelisk the Tormentor!

"This isn't the actual copy of Raviel, no it is just a fake that I managed to create with Shadow Magic! But with enough souls I'll be able to free the actual one, and with it I WILL ENGULF THIS WORLD IN SHADOW!" The man grinned sadistically.

Isabella narrowed her eyes. "Well then it's a good thing that I ran into you when I did, because I absolutely refuse to let that happen!"

"You have no choice in the matter! Raviel, attack her puny Sun Dragon with Shivering Scraper!" The Shadow Duelist ordered.

Raviel's claws glowed white, then it stepped forward and impaled the statue part of the dragon, causing it to burst in flames. But then the flames latched onto the fiend's claws, spreading up its arm until they engulfed Raviel entirely! Both monsters exploded, sending both duelists flying backwards.

The man managed to get up to one knee before flames engulfed him as well, causing him to scream in agony.

Isabella: 6200 LP Man: 2700 LP

The flames surrounding the man finally subsided, and he stood up slowly. "What just happened? How did Raviel get destroyed?"

Isabella let out a tinkling laugh. "Because of your stupidity that's how, for you see when Sun Dragon Inti is destroyed as a result of battle, the monster that destroyed it is sent to the graveyard, and its controller loses life points equal to its attack points."

"NOW YOU'RE BECOMING MORE THAN JUST AN ANNOYANCE!" The man raged. "Goldd, attack her Hieratic Dragon of Nebthet!"

Goldd lunged forward, lifting his axe and sliced into the purple dragon with it! The dragon's body was cleaved in half, and its remains shattered.

Isabella: 5900 LP Man: 2700 LP

"I finish my turn, but I assure you, I WILL CRUSH YOU!" He vowed.

"You really need to see a therapist about your anger issues," Isabella said casually, drawing a card. "All this shouting and talk of world domination can't be good for the heart."

"Just…move…" The man growled.

"Fine by me, I play Pot of Greed!" Isabella said.

"Not before I activate my trap card, go Dark Deal!" The man countered, revealing his facedown card. "This card changes your Pot of Greed's effect to 'Your opponent discards 1 random card'. But since I only have one card in my hand, it's not exactly random is it?"

He discarded a card, and this time another Dark World monster appeared, this one the largest yet. Muscles rippled on it, and it wielded a golden scepter. Suddenly the monster raised its scepter, and tentacles emerged out of it, impaling Moon Dragon Quilla!

"What just happened?" Isabella demanded.

The duelist smirked. "The monster I discarded was Reign-Beaux, Overlord of Dark World (ATK 2500, DEF 1800), and since Dark Deal counts as your card effect, Reign-Beaux destroys either all monsters or all spell and trap cards on your side of the field upon its special summon."

Suddenly, Sun Dragon Inti reappeared onto the field!

"When Moon Dragon Quilla is destroyed, I'm allowed to summon back Sun Dragon Inti" Isabella explained.

The man scowled.

"And it's still my turn!" Isabella said. "So first I'll summon Hieratic Dragon of Nuit (ATK 1700, DEF 900) in attack position!"

A light blue dragon dressed in golden armor emerged onto the field.

"Now Sun Dragon Inti...attack Reign Beaux!"

The dragon fired its blasts of fire at the fiend, incinerating it.

Isabella: 5900 LP Man: 2200 LP

"Now for the second part! Hieratic Dragon of Nuit, attack him directly!"

The dragon flew forwards, firing a blue beam of light, hitting the man and sending him to his knees.

Isabella: 5900 LP Man: 500 LP

"I end my turn with that," Isabella concluded.

The Dark World duelist slowly got to a standing position. Slowly he drew a card, a sneer appearing on his face as he saw it. "I play my own Pot of Greed, to draw two cards!"

As he picked up the two cards he sneered even more. "First off I'll play Raigeki, to destroy all of your monsters!"

Bolts of lighting fell from the sky, reducing Inti and Nuit to ashes.

"And now I play Monster Reborn, to revive Reign-Beaux!"

Reign-Beaux rose up from the ground, glaring at Isabella angrily.

A maniacal grin appeared on the man's face. "I've been waiting so long to do this! Go Goldd Reign-Beaux, attack this brat directly!"

Reign-Beaux fired a beam of dark energy from his scepter, hitting her in the stomach!

Isabella: 3400 LP Man: 500 LP

"That…wasn't…too bad," Isabella said weakly, before she suddenly dropped to her knees, blood spewing from her mouth.

"Ha look at you! Finally you're where you belong…on your knees!" The man mocked. "And soon, once I take more souls, the entire world will be like that too! I'll be invincible hahahaha!"

Isabella clenched her fists, and then she wiped the bloody residue from her face. She made her way back to her feet slowly, still clutching the wound from Reign-Beaux. "No I will not let that happen!" She shouted.

"Oh? And how do you plan to stop me? You have nothing on the field and no cards in your hand, meanwhile I have my three monsters, and a direct attack from any of them will banish you to the Shadow Realm!" The man continued to gloat. "Just save yourself the agony of one more attack and forfeit!"

Isabella closed her eyes for a moment. Then she said, "I still stand by my saying that I have a 100% percent chance of winning this duel."

"Why is that?" The man asked, bemused.

Isabella opened her eyes, revealing that they had turned completely black! "Because…someone…very close…once showed me that when you fight for the right reasons," she glanced at the comatose body of the little girl, "you can't lose! And ever since then I have been fighting for the right reasons, just like I am right now!"

"Pft you changed your eyes, that doesn't scare me," her opponent scoffed. "Just draw your last card."

"As you wish," Isabella said, swiftly doing so. She examined it for a second, and then a smile appeared on her face. "I play Card of Sanctity! So now both of us draw cards until we have six cards in our hands!"

"Ok fine, so you don't have an empty hand anymore," the man said as both he and Isabella drew six cards. "But that won't stop the inevitable."

"Of course, my having more cards does not prevent you from losing this duel; in fact it reinforces the fact that you are going to lose! I play Dragon's Mirror!" Isabella said brightly, a smile returning to her face.

"What's happening?" The man demanded, as a mirror with a frame resembling a dragon appeared. Then all of the sudden, the transparent spirits of Sun Dragon Inti, Moon Dragon Quilla, Hieratic Dragon of Nuit, Hieratic Dragon of Gebeb and Hieratic Dragon of Nebthet flew out of the ground and disappeared into the mirror!

"You see," Isabella started to explain, her voice taking a chilling tone. "Dragon's Mirror allows me to remove from play the fusion materials for any dragon type fusion monster, whether they be on my side of the field or the graveyard. Then I can fusion summon the fusion monster. So I fuse my five dragons from the graveyard to summon…FIVE-HEADED DRAGON (ATK 5000, DEF 5000)!"

"That's impossible!" The man panicked. But out of the mirror emerged a yellow dragon, far larger than even Raviel was. It had five heads, each of which corresponded to the Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, and Dark attributes.

"Meet my Five-Headed Dragon," Isabella said coldly. "But I'm afraid that his strength isn't suitable enough to wipe you out completely."

The man raised his eye brows, perplexed. "But it's already strong enough to take out all of my life points!"

"But," Isabella continued. "That is why I will equip my dragon with the spell, Megamorph, which doubles my dragons attack strength when my life points are lower than yours!"

The dragon's heads all roared, as its ATK skyrocketed to 10 000!

The man took a few steps back. "Have mercy!" He begged, tears starting to form in his eyes.

"Evil people like you don't deserve mercy," Isabella stated coolly. "Five-Headed Dragon, wipe out Reign-Beaux with Five-Headed God Blast!"

Each of the heads simultaneously fired a blast from their mouths, each corresponding to their respective elements. The five blasts converged into one powerful, massive golden one, hitting not only Reign-Beaux, but also wiping out Goldd and Snoww! But the blast didn't stop there, as it kept on going, completely engulfing the man and obliterating him!

Isabella: 3400 LP Man: 0 LP

Isabella fell to her knees, panting, as her eyes turned back to normal. The Five-Headed Dragon turned to her, lowering its heads and roaring softly. She smiled at it, patting the dark head. "I'm fine really," she assured it.

The dragon nodded its heads, and then vanished, along with the dome of darkness. The little girl abruptly opened her eyes, bolting straight up and looking around fearfully.

Isabella turned to the girl. "Don't be afraid little one," she said soothingly. "You're safe now."

The girl looked at Isabella, fright still on her face. "What…what happened to the bad man?" She asked, her eyes still darting around.

Isabella smiled softly. "I beat him in a duel, and now he won't be bothering anyone ever again."

The cute little girl finally stopped looking around, this time only staring at Isabella, tears welling up in her eyes. "It…it…was so scary! After I lost to him…I…I…got sent to such a…scary place!" she sobbed.

"You'll never end up in that place again sweetie, I promise you," Isabella kindly reassured her, wrapping her arms in an embrace around the crying girl.

For a few moments the girl remained there, tears streaming onto Isabella's blouse. Finally she stopped, and noticed the blood stains on Isabella's blouse. "You're hurt!" The little girl exclaimed.

"It's okay, really it is sweetie," Isabella said. "I've had worse. But you should start running along home now; your mommy and daddy will be worried!"

For the first time the little girl beamed. "Ok! Thank you so much pretty lady!"

And with one last embrace, the girl ran off.

Isabella leaned back against a wall, closing her eyes. All of the sudden she heard a ringing from her pocket. She opened her eyes, taking out her cell phone, glancing at the number her face brightened. Putting it to her ear she exclaimed, "Anthony darling, how wonderful it is to hear from you!"

Anthony chuckled on the other end. "The feeling isn't mutual Isabella."

"Aw you don't have to hide the fact that you missed me Anthony!" Isabella teased. "After all, I've missed you ever so much!"

"Well…maybe I missed you a bit, but only because you always give me a box of those amazing chocolate truffles," Anthony relented. "I'm kidding obviously, but it's only been a month or so since I saw you last."

"Well, at least I got you to admit that you missed me! That is progress!" Isabella grinned.

Anthony laughed. "Fine, I'll admit you're getting closer to cracking through my manly exterior. So what's up?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary, I just beat up three men and completely obliterated another in a Shadow Game, ruining some more clothes in the process," Isabella said casually, glancing down at her damaged blouse, stained with blood and tears. "And in doing so, I saved an adorable little girl from being offered to Raviel, Lord of Phantasms."

"Raviel?" Anthony asked.

"The man I dueled had a copy of it. He basically used Dark World Monsters to quickly get out three fiends to summon it. I assure you, after that duel I could use a visit to the spa right now!" Isabella said using a fake whining tone.

"Old habits die hard then," Anthony amusedly replied. "Well unfortunately, I have some bad news for you."

"What is it?" Isabella asked some worry creeping into her words. "Are you alright?"

"Oh I'm fine," Anthony reassured her. "But there is a very high possibility that none of us will be very soon."

"What are you talking about?"

"Here's the deal; I'm sure you've heard of Julian Endchild, right?" Anthony inquired.

"Yes I have…who hasn't? After all he is perhaps one of the most wealthy and powerful people in the world." Isabella answered.

"Alright, well it's like this; Julian protects these ten artifacts called the Eyes of the Cryak or something," Anthony started to explain. "Apparently some group called the Shadow Hunters wants these artifacts, which supposedly have the ability to 'destroy all worlds' but the only way they can take them is by winning them in a duel."

"Alright…" Isabella said in understanding.

"Here's the best part, Julian needs ten duelists to guard them, and he already has nine including yours truly."

"So you're asking me to be the final duelist?" Isabella asked. "Well no need to look any further Anthony, because I'm in!"

"I knew you would be," Anthony said. "We'll all assemble at Endchild Enterprises in a day."

"Excellent, I have time to go to the spa!" Isabella grinned.

Anthony laughed again. "Alright, well Isabella I have to go now…but I want you to know it was nice to hear your voice again."

Isabella closed her eyes. "It was a pleasure to talk to you Anthony. I can't wait to see you!"

The phone went dead, and Isabella pocketed it. _Anthony…_she thought. Then she suddenly realized. "Oh darn it, I have to get back to the restaurant, and how am I going to hide this mess from my parents!"

**Basketballdude51:** Well there you have it, another of the guardians is introduced, and as you can see she packs a punch. For all of you readers that know about the Hieratic Dragons, I'll tell you that Isabella does have the others in her deck as well, and they'll be used in later duels. Also, The Boisdale of Belgravia is an actual restaurant in London, so I don't own it, although my description of it was fictional.

**In the next chapter, the final OC (at least for now) will be introduced! And his opponent happens to be another of Julian's chosen duelists, one of the only duelists to ever beat Jaden! Find out who in the next chapter called: Hell Kaiser VS Unkillable Duelist, Pro League Battle!**


	4. Hell Kaiser VS The Unkillable Duelist

**Chapter 3: Hell Kaiser VS the Unkillable Duelist**

By: Basketballdude51

(Yugioh is owned by Kazuki Takahashi, Shonen Jump, Kids WB! and Cartoon Network. I only own OCs, original cards, and the plot.)

_Original Character's First Appearance in Story_

_Matt_

_Name: Matt Avalon_

_Age: 19_

_Hair: Dirty blond_

_Eyes: Dark blue_

_Gabriel_

_Name: Gabriel Roman_

_Age: 22_

_Hair: Light brown_

_Eyes: Hazel_

KAIBA DOME, DOMINO CITY

"Chuck Davis here and boy do we have an exciting duel tonight for you folks! In just a few moments, two duelists who have crushed all the opposition in their path will face off!" A middle aged man dressed in a dark blue suit announced, his voice amplified by the microphone he was using. He was standing on a magnificent duel arena, connected by wires to a hologram engine which intensified the attacks and effects of the cards. Around the arena were over 20 000 seats, each of them filled with every assortment of people imaginable.

The crowd roared restlessly, causing the man to grin.

"I know you fine folks can't wait for the duel to start, but first off, let me just state the rules in case anyone hasn't seen a Pro League duel before; first off both duelists will start with 8000 life points, they will flip a coin to decide which one of them goes first, any sort of cheating will result in immediate disqualification and suspension, but other than that it's exactly like your casual game of Duel Monsters!"

Suddenly dramatic music began to play, and fog started to pour out of one entranceway.

"Making his entrance first, with a professional dueling record of 68-6-0, he graduated from Duel Academy at the top of his class…at the beginning of his career he hit a bit of a slump but ever since then he's come back to win 48 duels in a row! Ladies and gentlemen, please put your hands together for…Zane Truesdale!"

A tall, dark blue haired boy emerged from the entrance way, dressed in a black trench coat, with matching black pants and shirt.

Members of the audience cheered and booed at the appearance of Zane.

"Go Zane, your Cyber Dragons will kick this guy's ass!"

"The Pro Leagues are too big for you kid, go back to Duel Academy!"

"Zane marry me!"

Zane walked onto the arena, his face showing no expression.

The music started to change, and dazzling lights focused on the opposite entrance.

"His opponent will be the number three ranked duelist in the Pro League…this duelist stands at an astounding record of 82-1-0…he seems to relish in taking life point damage since he always pays them for effects which is why he earned the title 'The Unkillable Duelist'! Please welcome…Matt Avalon!"

A handsome boy with dirty blonde hair appeared, just as fireworks shot around the entranceway. He wore a black tuxedo, with matching pants and tie. Most of the fans cheered at his appearance.

"Matt I love you!"

"Go Matt kick this dweeb's butt!"

"Can I have your babies?"

Matt waved at them, grinning sheepishly. Then he made his way to the platform, until he was standing in front of Zane.

"So this is the great Zane Truesdale," Matt examined, regarding the blue haired duelist. "I heard you were pretty good."

Zane shrugged, his expression remaining stony. "I just hope you prove to be a stronger opponent than the last 48 duelists I faced."

"Hopefully my skill will be satisfactory to you then," Matt smiled.

A referee went up to the duelists. "Duelists, shuffle each other's decks," he ordered.

The two of them handed each other their decks and shuffled them, and then handed them back to their owner.

"Both of you know the rules, so let's have a nice clean duel tonight. Shake each other's hand." The referee said.

Matt and Zane shook each other's hand, and then turned and walked to opposite sides of the platform.

One person in the audience, dressed in a dark blue suit eyed the two duelists keenly. _Alright let's if these two can stand up to the Shadow Hunters! _

"Let the duel begin!" The referee announced.

Matt: 8000 LP Zane: 8000 LP

A holographic coin appeared above the platform. "I call heads!" Matt called.

The coin landed on heads, and Matt immediately drew a card. "I'll simply Steelswarm Genome (ATK 1000, DEF 0) in attack mode and then place two cards facedown."

A metallic blob with eyes appeared in front of Matt.

"That's it? Well then this duel will be faster than I expected." Zane smirked. "Since you have a monster out and I have none I'll special summon my Cyber Dragon (ATK 2100, DEF 1600)!"

A mechanized, serpent like machine appeared on Zane's side of the field.

"Now I play Power Bond, to fuse the two Proto-Cyber Dragons (ATK 1100, DEF 600) in my hand to call out Cyber Twin Dragon (ATK 2800, DEF 2100)!"

Suddenly a larger machine appeared on the field, possessing two heads that resembled the Cyber Dragon that was already present. It glowed with a blue light and its attack points doubled to 5600!

Matthew chuckled. "Power Bond doubles your monster's attack points, but you'll have to pay life points equal to Cyber Twin Dragon's original attack points at the end of this turn."

Zane scowled. "It doesn't matter, I doubt that your monster can repel Cyber Dragon, and then due to Cyber Twin Dragon's special ability it can attack twice, so this duel is done. Cyber Dragon attack his monster with Strident Blast!"

"Folks, it looks as though Zane might win this duel in only one turn!" Chuck exclaimed.

The audience gasped as the attack went towards Matthew's monster, all of them in disbelief that Zane could actually win the duel in one turn.

Matthew grinned. "Sorry Zane, but right now would be a good time for me to activate my two trap cards; Spirit Barrier and Astral Barrier!"

Instantly a force field appeared in front of Matt's monster, refracting the attack towards him, but then another barrier formed, this time in front of Matt, which absorbed the attack completely.

"Look at that combo folks!" Chuck exclaimed. "As long as Astral Barrier is on the field, whenever Matt's monsters are being attacked, he can redirect the attack to himself! But with Spirit Barrier, as long as Matt controls a monster, he can't take damage! So basically Zane can't destroy Matt's monsters or damage him!"

"Considering Chuck explained how my nifty combo works, I don't have to," Matthew remarked. "So do you have any other bright ideas Zane?"

Zane frowned. "I end my turn." Right after he said that a blue light engulfed him, causing him to wince.

Matt: 8000 LP Zane: 5200 LP

Matt drew a card. Then he said, "I sacrifice Steelswarm Genome to summon Steelswarm Caucastag (ATK 2800, DEF 0) in attack mode."

The small bug like creature vanished, only to be replaced with a winged metallic insect like creature.

"How can you summon that with just one sacrifice? It's an eight star monster," Zane asked.

"Because Steelswarm Genome counts as two sacrifices when it's tribute to summon a 'Steelswarm' monster," Matt explained. "Speaking of which, when Caucastag is tribute summoned, I have a choice to destroy all other monsters on the field, or all spell and trap cards on the field, so I think I'll go with the former."

A swarm of metallic scarabs burst from the ground, swallowing up Zane's Cyber Dragon and Cyber Twin Dragon and in a few moments nothing remained of them.

"I hope I'm proving to be a better opponent than the previous duelists you dueled," Matt said, smirking. "To reinforce that theory, Steelswarm Causcastag will now attack you directly!"

The monster flew towards Zane, slashing at him with its claws and sending him staggering back.

Matt: 8000 LP Zane: 2400 LP

"And with that my turn is finished."

"Wow, not only did Matt manage to wipe out Zane's entire side of the field, but he also took a huge chunk out of Zane's Life Points!" Chuck boomed.

Zane was panting from the force of the attack, but he looked at Matt, a grin appearing on his face for the first time. "I was wrong, you are a strong opponent," he said drawing a card, "so now I should show you my power!"

He looked at the three cards in his hand. "I summon Cyber Valley (ATK 0, DEF 0) to the field, and I'll place one card facedown."

A smaller serpentine machine appeared on the field, along with the image of a facedown card.

"Has Zane admitted defeat? Playing that monster with 0 Attack Points is the same thing as not playing a monster at all!" Chuck pointed out.

"That's a tad disappointing Zane, I expected better from the duelist called 'Hell Kaiser'," Matt smirked.

Zane's face remained stony.

"Not much of a talker are you Zane?" Matt said. "Then again I guess I wouldn't have much to say if I was about to get crushed in a duel."

Matt drew a card, giving him four cards in his hand. "I play Steelswarm Caller (ATK 1700, DEF 0)!"

Another metallic humanoid insect appeared, this one possessing wings.

"Well Zane, I would say this was a good duel, but in reality it was one of the fastest, most one sided duels that I have ever seen. So Steelswarm Causcastag, attack his Cyber Valley!"

Causcastag flew towards Cyber Valley until Zane interrupted "Not so fast I banish Cyber Valley to end the battle phase!"

Cyber Valley disappeared, causing Matt's monster to stop, and flew back to Matt's side of the field. "And I also get to draw a card when I use Cyber Valley's effect," Zane said smugly.

"Looks like I was wrong, Cyber Valley sure saved Zane!" Chuck announced. "But that was too close for comfort!"

Matt smirked. "So you protected yourself this turn, I'd like to see you do that again."

Zane drew a card, giving him four in his hand. "I won't need to! I play Pot of Greed, which lets me draw two cards from my deck!"

He did so quickly and then he grinned once he looked at them. "I play Monster Reborn to bring back my Cyber Twin Dragon!"

The two headed machine appeared again, letting out a mechanical roar. "I'll follow that up by playing De-Fusion, to split my Cyber Twin Dragon into two Proto-Cyber Dragons (ATK 1100, DEF 600)!"

Cyber Twin Dragon vanished, only to be replaced by two smaller mechanical snakes. "But now I'll play Polymerization, to fuse the two Proto-Cyber Dragons with the Cyber Dragon (ATK 2100, DEF 1600) in my hand to summon…Cyber End Dragon (ATK 4000, DEF 2800)!"

All of the sudden, Zane's entire side of the field was bathed in a bright light as another creature emerged. This new monster had three heads, a pair of gigantic wings that shone with great light, and a lengthy tail that wrapped twice around its body.

Matt whistled. "Well I gotta hand it to you Zane, that's quite the monster you got there. But did you already forget that as long as Astral Barrier and Spirit Barrier are on the field, my monsters and my life points are untouchable."

Zane chuckled. "I didn't forget, which is why I'm playing Heavy Storm to destroy all spell and trap cards on the field!"

A massive gust of wind blew at Matt's two trap cards, shattering them.

"And just like that Zane has wiped out Matt's combo…and summoned a powerful monster!" Chuck commentated. "What's Matt gonna do against something with 4000 Attack Points?"

"Oh shit…" Matt gulped, looking at the giant monster nervously.

"Go Cyber End Dragon; attack Steelswarm Causcastag with Super Strident Blaze!" Zane commanded.

Cyber End Dragon's three mouths swiftly began to charge up with intense light energy—that was suddenly unleashed in a massive attack towards Causcastag, completely obliterating it.

Matt: 6800 LP Zane: 2400 LP

"I'll finish with that." Zane concluded.

Matt quickly drew a card. "I'll place a monster in defense mode and finish with a facedown card."

"Smart, you didn't switch your Caller into defense mode because it had zero defense points, I guess you knew about Cyber End Dragon's special ability then," Zane deduced.

"I study my opponents before I duel them, and I try to study as many cards as I can," Matt shrugged.

"Humph, too bad all of your studying will have been done for nothing. I play Premature Burial; to pay 800 Life Points to summon back Cyber Twin Dragon (ATK 2800, DEF 2100) from my graveyard!"

Matt: 4700 LP Zane: 1600 LP

For the third time in the duel, the two headed Cyber Dragon appeared.

"Now it's time for you to feel the power of my Cyber Dragons! Cyber End Dragon, attack his monster in defense mode!" Zane ordered.

The dragon fired its blast of energy again, revealing and annihilating a metal plated monster that was on all fours (ATK 1500, DEF 1900).

Matt: 4700 LP Zane: 1600 LP

"Now Cyber Twin Dragon, attack Steelswarm Caller!"

The two dragon heads charged up blasts of energy, and then fired them at the humanoid insect, destroying it.

Matt: 3600 LP Zane: 1600 LP

"But as I said at the beginning of the duel, Cyber Twin Dragon can attack twice! So Cyber Twin Dragon, attack him directly!" The two headed dragon complied, firing a blast of energy at Matt, causing him to take a step back, but nothing else.

Matt: 800 LP Zane: 1600 LP

"And with that I finish my turn." Zane said.

"It looks as if Zane is gonna win this duel on his next turn, unless Matt pulls off a miracle!" Chuck pointed out.

Matt looked at his opponent straight in the eyes. "Before I start my turn, I'd like to apologize to you Zane."

"For what?" Zane asked, raising his eyebrows.

Matt chuckled. "Before this duel, I thought that you wouldn't be worth my time. Ever since I have been dueling, I have won every single duel…with the exception of two of them." In his mind Matt saw images of Anthony and Isabella.

"But your record says that you had only had one loss," Zane pointed out.

"Yeah well that's only my Pro League record…but I lost one duel that was just for fun." Matt explained. "But anyways, nobody has challenged me, besides the two duelists that I just mentioned, so I have been looking for opponents that are strong enough to push me to be better than those two duelists. You wouldn't believe how many poor duelists there are in the Pro League."

Zane smirked. "I think I do."

"Heh I take that back, but I thought that you would be another of those weak duelists…it turns out I was wrong. You've been able to survive the onslaught of my Steelswarms, you destroyed my Barrier Combo, you have double the amount of life points that I have, and you have the better field position. So maybe you can be the duelist that forces me to become stronger." Matthew said, finally drawing a card.

Zane nodded. "There are three duelists that I wish to surpass as well, and I need to become stronger to defeat them," Images of Jaden with his Elemental Heroes, Aster Phoenix and his Destiny Heroes, as well as Jesse Anderson and his Gem Beasts flashed through Zane's mind. "I went to the dark side of the Cyber Dragons to get stronger, but it isn't enough to beat them. So it seems as though we both wish to become stronger…well then I won't accept your apology unless you give me everything you have in this duel!"

"I'll be happy to oblige," Matt grinned. "So first off I activate my facedown card, Call of the Haunted! This lets me bring back a monster from my grave, such as my first Steelswarm Genome!"

A metallic blob appeared onto the field.

"Next I play Allure of Darkness! This spell card allows me to draw two cards, at the price of banishing one dark monster in my hand." Matt took a card in his hand and placed it into his pocket, and then he drew two cards. "Next I'll play a second Steelswarm Genome (ATK 1000, DEF 0)!"

Another of the blobs appeared on the field.

"Now I play Double Summon! Just like its name says, I can summon again this turn! Since you already know from earlier that Genome counts as two tributes when summoning a Steelswarm monster…I'll sacrifice Steelswarm Genome and Steelswarm Caller to summon the strongest Steelswarm monster…Steelswarm Hercules (ATK 3200, DEF 0)!

Both of Matt's monsters disappeared, being replaced by a gigantic, metallic, humanoid, beetle like creature.

Zane narrowed his eyes. "It's not strong enough to destroy Cyber End Dragon."

"My Steelswarm Hercules has a very powerful special ability; you see by paying half of my Life Points, every card on the field other than him is destroyed." Matt explained calmly.

Zane's eyes widened. "But that means…"

"I win," Matt finished. "I pay half of my Life Points to use Hercules' effect."

Metallic scarabs burst from the ground, swallowing Cyber End Dragon as well as Zane's facedown card.

Matt: 400 LP Zane: 1600 LP

"You pushed me further than any duelist I have faced in a long time." Matt praised. "But it ends now! Steelswarm Hercules…finish him!"

Steelswarm Hercules glowed with a dark energy, then scarabs rose from the ground and engulfed Zane for a moment, and when they disappeared he was on his knees, panting

Matt: 400 LP Zane: 0 LP

"And there you have it folks, the winner of this spectacular duel…Matt Avalon!" Chuck's voice boomed throughout the arena, as the crowd erupted into cheers and the holograms vanished.

Matt walked over to Zane extending his hand. "That was a really close duel Zane; I can see why you graduated Duel Academy at the top of your class."

Zane stood up and shook Matt's hand. "It was a good duel; in fact I'd like to have a rematch with you sometime."

Matt nodded. "I was thinking the same thing."

30 MINUTES LATER AT THE TOKYO DOME ENTRANCE

"Here you go kid," Zane said, signing a picture of him and handing it to a little boy. The boy grinned and left, leaving Zane standing with Matt.

Matt chuckled. "Autographs and pictures aren't really your thing are they?"

"I care more about the duels that the publicity," Zane shrugged. "The fans seem to love you though, especially the female ones."

"Well what can I say, when you have biceps like these," Matt flexed his muscular arms "you're bound to be a girl magnet."

Suddenly a physical specimen of a man standing well over six feet tall walked through the entrance, his muscles rippling under the dark blue suit and matching pants and tie walked towards the two duelists.

"Matt Avalon, Zane Truesdale, do you have a moment? This is of the utmost importance." He asked the two.

Matt shrugged, "The fans are gone now, so I'm free."

"I am also but who are you and what is this about?" Zane asked suspiciously.

The man chuckled. "My name is Gabriel Roman…head of security of Endchild Enterprises, and I come on behalf of Mr. Endchild himself."

Matt raised his eyebrows. "What would someone like Julian Endchild want with us?"

"I will explain that you the both of you, but it is too public out here, perhaps you two could join me in the limo and we can discuss this matter more privately." Gabriel suggested.

Matt looked at Zane, who nodded in return.

"Well then Mr. Roman, lead the way." Matt replied.

STANFORD UNIVERSITY, DUELING THEORY CLASS

"The minimum cards you must have in a Duel Monsters deck is 40, with three copies maximum of each card…" The professor droned on.

A beautiful blonde girl who was sitting in the front row rolled her eyes. Alexis Rhodes was dressed in a blue button up shirt, along with a blue skirt. She stared idly at the professor, who kept on droning on about the most basic rules of Duel Monsters.

_This class is so boring_, she said to herself. _At least back at Duel Academy Jaden would always be eating, sleeping, or finding some other way to annoy the teachers there. Ugh there I go again thinking about Jaden! Why did he have to go play loner and leave Duel Academy? Why hasn't haven't any of us heard from him since we graduated? I knew I should have admitted my feelings to him after the Tag Team Tournament!_

The bell rang, causing the professor to pause talking for a moment. Then he said, "Alright class, please read Chapter 8 for next class, and I'll see all of you tomorrow!"

Alexis packed up her notebooks and stood up, leaving the class. She only took a few steps into the hall when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to see a well-built man of African descent, dressed in a black suit.

"Can I help you?" Alexis asked politely.

"Alexis Rhodes, could I talk to you in private?" The man asked.

"Why?" Alexis questioned.

The man frowned. "Because it has to do with saving the world."

Alexis nodded, motioning to the man to follow her. They walked outside, where there were various tables for students to eat on. The two of them walked over to an empty table and sat down.

"So what's this about saving the world?" Alexis asked.

"You want an explanation, but I'm afraid I can only give you a very small amount of information for now," the man said. "My name is Abel, and I serve as the bodyguard of Julian Endchild, head of Endchild Enterprises."

"Really?" Alexis questioned, surprised.

The man laughed. "I understand your surprise. But yes I do serve as his personal bodyguard. Now Mr. Endchild is recruiting ten elite duelists, which will protect ten powerful artifacts from a very dangerous organization, I assume that you're familiar with this kind of scenario due to your ordeal with the Spirit Keys."

"How do you know about that?" Alexis demanded, narrowing her eyes towards Abel.

Abel raised his hands in innocence. "Mr. Endchild…has sources, but I assure you that we are on the good side here."

Alexis nodded, "Okay so you want me to be one of the ten duelists then."

"That is correct," Abel said. "As we speak nine other duelists are being recruited for this task, including some of your former Duel Academy classmates."

The blonde gasped. "But does that mean…is a duelist named Jaden Yuki one of them?"

Abel smiled knowingly. "Yes…Mr. Endchild recruited him personally, and Mr. Yuki has already agreed to play his part."

_Jaden…it looks like our paths will cross once again_, Alexis thought happily. "Alright, well count me in!"

**Basketballdude51:** Sorry for the long update, I've been busy with summer courses at university, and I still will be for the next two months or so, but I will definitely still update as often as I can. Now that all of the introduction chapters are done, I can get into the main plot line of this story…which means that from now on the duels and the action will get more intense!

**Now that all of the duelists have been assembled, Julian finally gives the chosen ten the full story behind the Shadow Hunters…and the true nature behind the Eyes of the Cryak. The next chapter is called: The Nine Days of Destruction. **


	5. The Nine Days of Destruction

**Chapter 4: The Nine Days of Destruction**

By: Basketballdude51

(If I owned Yugioh I'd be a rich man, but I don't own it…so I'm just like the rest of you.)

ENDCHILD ENTERPRISES

"Please sit down and make yourselves comfortable Mr. Avalon and Mr. Truesdale." The secretary motioned towards some chairs, a few of which were already occupied by: Alexis, a grey haired duelist in a grey suit and pants, a blue haired boy wearing a blue jacket with dark blue outlines with black pants which are held up with a white belt, and Harrison.

"Zane it's nice to see you," Alexis smiled at him, shaking his hand.

"It's been a while hasn't it Alexis," Zane nodded. Then he looked at the grey haired duelist. "Hello Aster."

Aster Phoenix grinned. "I saw that duel you had with Matt over there," he cocked his head towards Matt, who grinned back. "Looks like I'm not the only one who can beat you."

Zane shrugged. "Don't forget Jesse," he motioned to the other blue haired boy.

"Aw shucks Zane," Jesse Anderson rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "The only time I beat you was when I was possessed by Yubel, and the other time we dueled was a no contest so we need to have a rematch sometime!"

Jesse then regarded Matt. "So you beat Zane too, well then you must be a pretty good duelist!"

"It was a close one," Matt chuckled. "I'm Matt Avalon, I've heard about you and your Gem Beasts Jesse Anderson is it true that you can also see Duel Spirits?"

Jesse grinned. "It looks like word gets around." A cute purple cat with a ruby at the end of its tail appeared on Jesse's shoulder.

"Cute Spirit Partner, can you see mine?" Matt asked.

Jesse looked at Matt for a second, but all he saw was a massive form of darkness beside him. "I'm afraid I can't partner," Jesse sighed.

"Ah well, I won't lie mine is…harder…to see than others," Matt told him.

"Now that the two of you are done playing with Duel Spirits, we should probably introduce ourselves to the newcomer," Harrison pointed out coolly. "I'm Harrison Smith."

Aster grinned. "I already know Matt from the Pro Leagues."

"Alexis Rhodes," Alexis said.

"And I know Zane and Jesse," Matt finished. "Well it's nice to meet all of you, but I'm sure all of you were told that we were called here for more than just a social gathering."

The other duelists nodded. "It seems like no matter what we do there's always some psycho duelists that are trying to destroy the world," Jesse sighed.

"We can do this; after all we've been through this before." Alexis said reassuringly. "All of us have improved as duelists since we left Duel Academy, and who knows how much stronger Jaden's become."

"I can attest to his strength."

The six duelists turned towards the voice, revealing Julian walking towards them, with Jaden and Anthony in tow.

"Hey guys!" Jaden said.

"Jaden!" Alexis exclaimed, getting up and running up to him. Jaden opened his arms out for an embrace…only to receive a slap to the face!

"Ow Lex what was that for?" Jaden asked his face stinging from the slap.

"Did you really think that you could ditch graduation and then never keep in touch with any of us?" Alexis demanded angrily. "Do you have any idea how much all of us missed you?"

Then her face softened, and she hugged Jaden. "I'm glad to see you again Jaden."

Jaden grinned goofily, returning the embrace. After a moment he turned towards the others. "Hey Jesse, Aster, Zane, and who are you two?" He asked, motioning towards Harrison and Matt.

"Matt Avalon, you must be the Jaden that Alexis was talking about," Matt nodded.

"Yes sir, Jaden Yuki's the name and dueling's my game!" Jaden announced.

"Harrison Smith, and who's the other guy," Harrison asked, looking at Anthony intently.

Anthony grinned. "Matt and Aster already know me," the two aforementioned duelists shook hands with him for emphasis. "But for the rest of you I'm Anthony Le."

"Now that the introductions are done for the most part, shall we step into my office?" Julian suggested.

The others got up and followed Julian as he unlocked the door and followed him into the room. A few of them gasped as they saw it, as it was very large and luxurious, with ten leather chairs already set up in front of his desk for them. The entire wall behind the desk was a giant window, with a view of the city below.

Julian saw down at his desk. "Please, take a seat,"

The eight duelists sat down. "Um…aren't we missing two more?" Jesse asked.

On cue Isabella walked in. "I'm here!" She announced.

Upon her entrance Harrison found himself blushing. _Wow that has got to be the prettiest girl I have ever seen!_

He stood up to introduce himself to her, only for her to swiftly walk by him. "Anthony darling it's so great to see you again!" She exclaimed, giving Anthony a hug, causing Harrison to glare.

"It's nice to see you too Isabella," Anthony grinned.

After a few moments Isabella let go of the embrace. She examined him closely. "You feel more…muscular. I assume you still go to the gym often then?"

Anthony laughed. "Yeah I do, and you look quite nice yourself."

"Well thank you!" Isabella tossed a lock of her hair in response to the compliment. "I see Matt is here too. Come here Matt why didn't you say something?"

Matt smirked, standing up and hugging the girl. "I didn't want to interrupt this romantic moment between you two."

Isabella blushed, while Anthony just looked at Matt, a puzzled expression on his face. "What do you mean Matt?" Anthony asked.

"ANYWAYS!" Harrison interrupted. "I think we need a proper introduction to the lady here," he nodded towards Isabella.

"Ah yes how rude of me!" Isabella apologized. "My name is Isabella Cebrien."

The others nodded and introduced themselves.

"Well it seems as though we're just missing one more duelist," Aster remarked.

Suddenly, a familiar duelist with red, black and blond spiky hair walked in. Everyone in the room gasped except for Julian.

"Yugi Moto!" Jaden exclaimed.

"The King of Games himself," Zane whispered in awe.

Yugi nodded, turning towards Jaden. "How's Winged Kuriboh doing?"

"He's doing great sir!" Jaden answered, as Winged Kuriboh appeared beside Jaden.

"You know the King of Games?" Aster asked, dumbfounded.

"Well I bumped into him on the way to my Entrance Exam," Jaden said sheepishly. "Then I saw him again before I left Duel Academy."

Yugi smiled knowingly. "Some of you I know from watching you on television," he nodded towards Anthony, Isabella, and Matt, Zane and Aster. "The rest of you must be great duelists as well since Julian recruited you."

"Well now that everyone is finally accounted for," Julian said. "I can now explain to you the situation that you are in. Please, all of you sit down."

Yugi sat down beside Jaden, who was grouped with the rest of the Duel Academy alumni, meanwhile Anthony, Isabella and Matthew sat beside the group. Harrison sat by himself.

Julian pressed a button on his desk. "Gabriel, bring the Eyes up here."

"Yes sir," Gabriel's voice replied from the intercom.

"While my bodyguard comes up here, I will start my explanation," Julian said. "I need the ten of you to protect artifacts called the Eyes of the Cryak, against a group of very powerful duelists known as the Shadow Hunters."

"We already know that," Anthony cut in. "What's so important about these Eyes?"

Julian frowned. "They act as a seal for an immensely powerful entity called the Cryak." As soon as he uttered the word 'Cryak' he shuddered.

"What's the Cryak?" Alexis asked.

Julian sighed. "The Cryak is a being…with the god like ability to control reality. With its power it can create entire races, entire worlds if it wishes. But it only does that for one reason…to make them destroy other worlds. The Cryak revels in destruction and death, and as such every single war, every single weapon, every single cruel thought, is at least somewhat influenced by the Cryak."

"What are you saying?" Isabella demanded. "That this thing is the reason behind all forms of violence?"

Julian shook his head. "No it's not that simple. There will always be sentient beings with the intention to harm others, but the Cryak amplifies and gives the means for this to happen. It is because of the Cryak that scientists are able to come up with more devastating weapons all the time; it is because of the Cryak that new, horrific races are created…"

"What do you mean new races?" Jesse questioned. "Aren't humans the only race?"

At this Julian chuckled. "Jesse, you of all people should know that humans aren't the only sentient beings in this universe. After all you have the ability to commune with Duel Spirits. But while Duel Spirits are friendly and helpful for the most part, the Cryak creates civilizations that only exist to destroy others."

"Whoa there," Jaden said. "Why do these Shadow Hunters want to unseal the Cryak then?"

Julian chuckled. "I guess I should start at the beginning then. The Shadow Hunters were originally formed to protect this world from things such as Shadow Duelists, malevolent powers, and the like. You see, there are…exceptional people in this world…with capabilities and powers far beyond human boundaries. The Shadow Hunters recruited some of these people to create an organization that could…to put in a simple term 'hunt shadows' hence their name. For decades they existed in harmony, saving the world many times over from the dark forces that tried to destroy it."

"Wait a second," Aster interrupted. "How do you know all of this?"

"Because…I used to be one of them," Julian answered. "Gabriel, the Divine One was my codename."

The other occupants gasped. "But…then if the Shadow Hunters were originally meant to protect the world why are they trying to destroy it now? And why are you against them?" Yugi questioned.

Julian smiled sadly. "I will tell you everything, starting with the Nine Days of Destruction."

_TWO YEARS AGO, UNKNOWN LOCATION_

_Julian stood idly as a group of archaeologists worked on deciphering the inscriptions on some ruins they discovered. He wore a black trench coat with gold trim, along with a white mask, blank except for the Sigil of Gabriel_ (I can't describe it)_ which took up the bulk of the mask._

"_Gabriel!" A female's voice spoke._

_Julian turned, smiling under his mask as he saw a blonde woman, dressed in the same attire as he was, except her trench coat at green trim, and mask looked as though vines and flowers covered it._

"_Flora, the Invigorating One," Julian greeted, embracing the newcomer. "Why are you here, you aren't scheduled for guard duty for eight more hours."_

"_Well Gabriel if you thought that I would leave you all by your lonesome!" Flora giggled, grabbing his arm. "Anyways, I thought we could use some quality time together."_

_Julian nodded. "I completely agree with that. I've been guarding these ruins for months now, I could use some company."_

"_Have they discovered anything new about these ruins yet?" Flora asked inquisitively. _

"_Something about a being called the Cryak, and how it has a great power or something along the lines of that," Julian said casually. "It's not as though there are any guardians or traps or anything, we've been able to go about our work here relatively unscathed."_

"_Hopefully they finish up so then you can leave this place," Flora said. Then she leaned towards Julian and whispered, "I've missed you so much Julian."_

_Julian took her by the hand and led her to an isolated part of the ruins. He took off his mask, and Flora took off hers, revealing a very pretty face. "I missed you too Jenna," and with that he leaned forwards, tilting her chin up and kissing her passionately._

_Jenna closed her eyes and returned the kiss, wrapping both of her arms around Julian's shoulders._

_For a few blissful moments the two of them remained that way, and then they broke the kiss. The two of them looked into each other's eyes; Julian's hazel ones and Jenna's baby blue ones, each reflecting the other._

"_Soon they'll be done, and then I can spend more time with you." Julian reassured her. _

"_You've been gone for so long Julian…I don't know how I've survived so far being separated from you," Jenna said sadly._

_Julian put his hand on her shoulder. For a minute he seemed to be mustering up the courage to say something, then finally he said, "Jenna…once I was done here I was going to ask you something…something very important."_

_To Jenna's astonishment Julian dropped down to one knee and took her hand. "I know this isn't the ideal place, but I want you to know that you are all I think about. The worst part about being stuck here is that every second I'm here means that I have a second less of my life to spend with you. With Endchild Enterprises, I have more than enough financially, but without you it's meaningless…so…Jenna Greendale…will you marry me?"_

_Jenna stared at Julian, her eyes shining with tears that were about to fall, a smile was on her lips. "Julian Endchild I…"_

_All of the sudden the two of them heard screams coming from where the scientists were._

_The two of them quickly put their masks back on, swords appearing in their hands. "Let's go!" Julian shouted._

_Jenna nodded, and the two of them sprinted towards the main part of the ruins. When they finally got there they gasped at what they saw._

_Multiple corpses were strewn everywhere, the bodies horribly mutilated and mangled. Only one member of the archaeologists was left, and he was on his knees, bowing towards a horrific looking creature. It was a reddish orange humanoid creature, with no head, only a torso with one large red eye in the center of it. Its arms resembled blades, made up of a crystal like orange material. The lower body of the creature seemed to all be blended into one blood red mass, with no visible legs or feet._

"_Master…I have served you well…can I have my reward now?" The man on his knees asked._

_The creature regarded him with its singular eye. Then suddenly a metal spike appeared beside the creature. The spike flew at the man, puncturing him through his back, causing him to fall dead._

"_Pitiful creature," the monster said telepathically, turning towards the two Shadow Hunters. "He was so easy to manipulate…but then again most sentient beings are."_

"_What…what are you?" Julian demanded, holding his sword out defensively._

"_Ah, I sense quite the noble heart in you," the creature regarded Julian carefully. "Both you and your partner…you are…different than the other mortals I have seen."_

"_You still didn't answer our question freak!" Jenna shouted. "What are you and why did you kill all of these people?"_

"_I am the Cryak, and my purpose is simply to help all living things to accomplish their grand purpose," the creature said._

"_What grand purpose?" Jenna asked._

"_It is simple; the purpose of all living things is to die." The Cryak replied casually._

"_That's not true at all!" Julian shouted. "How the hell do you even come up with that?"_

"_Your mind is not vast enough to comprehend this grand purpose, but I will attempt to explain nonetheless. You see, every living organism has to reach the eternal bliss called death eventually. In life, creatures suffer, while in death, they sleep eternally. I enjoy causing death; fulfilling this grand purpose is twice as pleasant for me." The Cryak explained._

"_We won't let that happen!" Jenna cried, her sword glowing with green energy. _

"_We'll destroy you right here and right now!" Julian declared, his sword glowing with a heavenly aura._

_Both of them ran at the Cryak, who just stood there idly. Both Julian's and Jenna's swords hit the Cryak, impaling it in the shoulder and the eye respectively. But they didn't expect sharp tendrils to burst out of the Cryak, impaling them and sending the two of them flying backwards!_

_Julian and Jenna got up quickly, both of them clutching their abdomens, which were now oozing blood._

_Spikes appeared around the two, as the spikes impaled the spot where they were just standing a second earlier. This time blades made from a black metal materialized in front of them, Julian rolled out of the way in time, but Jenna wasn't as fortunate as one of the blades embedded itself into her chest. She screamed in agony as the blade glowed, her screams intensifying in proportion to the intensity of the glow. Jenna clenched her fist, which glowed with a green light, and she managed to take the blade and pull it out of her chest, gasping for breath._

_The Cryak's eye focused on her. "Impressive, you must possess great power to be able to survive that attack."_

"_You bastard!" Julian yelled, firing a blast of light towards the Cryak. The creature's eye glowed for a moment, and the blast of light redirected itself at Julian, hitting him and sending him flying twenty feet backwards!_

"_Julian!" Jenna cried, running over to him. _

"_Ugh…" Julian sat up weakly, coughing out blood. "What is this thing…?"_

"_I don't know…but you have to go back and warn the others!" Jenna demanded, even as she clutched her bleeding chest._

"_But I can't leave you with that thing!" Julian spluttered. "It's too powerful, it'll kill you!"_

_Jenna sighed, wrapping her arms around Julian. "You said it yourself, the Cryak is too powerful. You need to alert the other Hunters; otherwise nothing can stand against this thing."_

"_But…but…Jenna…" Julian whispered his voice cracking with emotion._

_Jenna reached over and took the mask of off Julian's face, which was on the verge of crying. She took her own mask off, looking at him with a soft smile. "About your proposal…I want you to know…that I love you more than I love my own life, so the obvious answer to it is…yes I will marry you Julian."_

_Julian was about to open his mouth, but Jenna silenced it by softly kissing him. "I'll be fine," she said. "Now go!"_

"_Jenna…" Julian said sadly._

"_I promise that I'll see you again," Jenna assured him. Then she helped Julian back to his feet. "Go Julian!"_

_This time Julian nodded, sprinting away. He took one last look back, and saw Jenna running at the Cryak, her sword glowing with green energy, and hundreds of spikes materializing in front of the Cryak, about to launch at her. Julian turned away, Jenna's screams piercing the air._

PRESENT DAY, ENDCHILD ENTERPRISES

"Whoa…" Jaden said, as the others sat there in silence.

"Yes…that was how it all started," Julian said, wiping a lone tear off of his face.

"What happened after?" Isabella asked quietly.

Julian had a dark look on his face. "I managed to alert the other Shadow Hunters, and we managed to use a certain spell to protect the general populace of the world. We cast a spell that transported 99% of the earth's inhabitants to an alternate dimension that is identical to this one, which was also created by the same spell. By doing so this left the earth devoid of any innocent bystanders as well as keeping this crisis unknown to them, however…if all of the Shadow Hunters were to be killed…then the spell would be undone and the things we sent to that dimension would appear back in the real world, ripe for the Cryak to destroy."

"Did you…manage to stop the Cryak?" Alexis whispered.

Julian closed his eyes. "Yes we were…but at a great cost. You see the Cryak brought with it armies of horrific monsters, which it used against us…for nine days the Shadow Hunters fought the Cryak and its army, hence why it was called 'The Nine Days of Destruction'."

Julian paused for a moment, and then he continued. "On the ninth day everything seemed to point in our destruction. Our forces were dramatically reduced, and the Cryak's army kept on coming. By now it was only the strongest Shadow Hunters saving humanity from the Cryak's power."

_THE NINTH DAY OF DESTRUCTION, UNKNOWN LOCATION_

"_Lumen, the Pure One, it seems that we are about to lose this war," Julian sighed, talking to the person beside him, a male dressed in a black trench coat with white trim. Covering his face was a mask that seemed to be entirely made up of white light resembling flames._

"_Not yet Gabriel," Lumen replied, clutching his sword, which had a blade that was made entirely of light. "As long as there is still a Hunter standing, the rest of the human race is safe. And as long as there is a hunter left, the Cryak still can lose."  
_

"_Well said Lumen," another figure said, walking up to him. This Shadow Hunter was dressed in a black trench coat with dark red trim. A red mask resembling a demon, complete with black horns covered his face. "The Cryak still has no idea what kind of power the Shadow Hunters we have at our disposal."_

"_How can you say that Rakdos, the Fallen One, the Cryak has completely destroyed over three quarters of the Shadow Hunters! Yet the Cryak's army grows with each day, and the Cryak increases its power with each death! We have no chance!" Julian panicked._

"_Calm down Gabriel," Masque, the Faceless One said. "Even if we lose here, something will stop the Cryak."_

"_Masque is wise," a fifth Shadow Hunter said as his trench coat trimmed with a metallic material. His mask was made entirely of machine parts, complete with turning gears and glowing lights for eyes. "The Cryak is a bringer of death, yet there can't be death without life. So eventually the Cryak will be stopped, whether by us or something else."_

"_Memnarch, the Mechanized One is correct. Balance is crucial to existence," a sixth Shadow Hunter joined in. "As there cannot be light without dark, up without down, good without evil, and so forth." This Shadow Hunter's trench coat was trimmed with a cyan color. His mask resembled the face of a clock._

_Lumen laughed. "Chronos, the Infinite One, you always did give excessive examples."_

_Chronos shrugged. "Of course you would comment on something as trivial as that Lumen, especially since we are moments away from making our last stand."_

"_The Cryak is a fool for challenging us," Rakdos said, drawing his sword which looked to be made entirely of black fire. "Never in the history of the Shadow Hunters have the five highest ranking ones convened together to combat anything."_

"_You brag too much," Julian sighed. "I just hope we can somehow make a miracle happen here."_

_Chronos placed a hand on Julian's shoulder. "We have the power of gods," Julian's own hands glowed with a golden aura. "The power of illusion," Masque's mask glowed. "The power of the Underworld," Rakdos glowed with a blood red aura. "The power of the heavens," A ray of light shone down from the sky, illuminating Lumen. "The power of science," the two lights on Memnarch's masked glowed. "And the power of time," Chronos' masked glowed, and time seemed to slow for a few moments around the six Shadow Hunters. Julian watched as a mosquito flew past him, going at a tenth of what its regular speed would have been._

_Time went back to normal, and the Shadow Hunters stood there, waiting for the inevitable attack._

_Akroma ran up to the Hunters. "They're coming!" She exclaimed, holding her two knives at the ready._

_All of the sudden, an eerie chill rushed through each and every one of the Shadow Hunters. On the horizon, shadowy forms could be discerned, stumbling, scuttling, gliding, and moving towards the assembly of masked warriors._

"_Well this is it," Masque said. "It's time for the Cryak to pay for killing our comrades!" _

_Julian clenched his fists. Images of Jenna flashed through his mind. "Yes…yes it is," he hissed, drawing his sword._

"_Shadow Hunters," Chronos declared, "It's time to make our final stand! Either the Cryak dies today…or we do!"_

"_Hopefully not the latter," Memnarch whispered to Lumen, who chuckled._

"_We all have our reasons for fighting today; love ones, the existence of our race, glory, greed…whatever it is all that matters is that you're here and ready to fight to the end against this monstrosity called the Cryak!"_

_The other Shadow Hunters raised their swords in unison._

"_Now…let's stop this monster right here on this very field!" Chronos yelled. "FOR HUMANITY!"_

_Chronos drew his sword and started running towards the oncoming horde of nightmares. The other Shadow Hunters followed his lead, letting out cries and sprinting towards the Cryak's army._

_As the two sides got closer, the Shadow Hunters could see the hideous creatures on the Cryak's side. Rotting corpses of the fallen humans lumbered forward, huge eye balls with orange irises embedded into their torsos. Creatures that looked exactly like the Cryak glided forward, their eyes glowing. Orange eyeballs scuttled along the ground, using thin red tentacles for locomotion._

_Chronos' mask glowed, and the advancing army slowed down, giving the Shadow Hunters an opportunity to gain the upper hand. Julian sliced at a corpse, impaling it through the eye on its torso, causing it to collapse to the ground. Memnarch took a futuristic gun out of his trench coat, firing a devastating blast that leveled an entire line of monsters. Lumen motioned towards the sky, and rays of light shone on large patches of the Cryak's army, causing him to disintegrate. Rakdos' hands glowed with a black aura, and the ground split open under the advancing nightmares, sending the monsters tumbling into the abyss below._

_But then time returned back to normal, and more monsters came. Masque dodged the arm blade of one of the Cryak clones, his hand glowing as he plunged it through the fiend's eye. The monster's eye melted, until the creature fell dead, an empty socket where its eye used to be, but then another clone came from behind, stabbing its blade arm through Masque's stomach. Julian, seeing this, sliced the blade arm off with his sword, and fired a blast of light at it, obliterating it._

"_Are you alright?" He asked Masque, who simply pulled the arm out of his abdomen. _

"_I'll live," he replied, blood leaking from the wound. All of the sudden his mask glowed, and Julian turned to come face to face with a corpse, which was holding its embedded eye in agony as a mask resembling a skull appeared over the eye. It fell to the ground, dead._

_Masque chuckled as he swatted away one of the scuttling eye balls with his sword. "Now we're even."_

_Nearby Lumen and Rakdos were standing back to back, their swords drawn. Lumen's sword seemed to have a blade made out of a white fire, and whenever he slashed an enemy, a light would shoot down from the sky and obliterate it. Meanwhile whenever Rakdos used his sword, a small crevice would open from under the ground, and demonic hands would grab the unfortunate monster and drag it down below._

"_This isn't so bad," Lumen grunted, as he wrestled away from a corpse, which was trying to bite him. His hand glowed white, and he punched it through the eye ball, killing it._

"_It could be worse; at least the Cryak hasn't shown up. It must be too scared of us," Rakdos chuckled, his mask glowing, causing an incoming clone to be engulfed in black flames._

_At that moment, the real Cryak rose from the ground, its eye glowing sinisterly._

"_You had to say that," Lumen sighed, running at the Cryak, his sword glowing intensely._

_Black blades appeared in front of the Cryak, and simultaneously they flew towards Lumen, whose mask glowed, sending a shockwave throughout a 10 meter radius and forcing the blades to fall to the ground harmlessly. Lumen swung his blade at the Cryak, only for the creature to parry it with its arm. Its eye glowed, and it fired a massive orange blast at Lumen, who only managed to raise his arm in time to form a white barrier. For a few moments the Cryak kept on firing its blast of energy, and Lumen struggled to keep the barrier up. The Cryak didn't notice as Rakdos leapt forward, impaling the monster through the eye. The Cryak's attack stopped, and for a moment it and Rakdos stood there. Then a blast of dark energy fired from the hilt of Rakdos' weapon, sending the Cryak flying backwards 20 feet!_

"_Please tell me that destroyed it," Lumen hoped._

"_I doubt it would be that easy," Rakdos sighed._

_The Cryak floated back upright. "You two…possess great power." Its voice hissed in their heads. "Join me in causing death; help me free these mortals from the suffering known as life. I can make you two gods!"_

"_How about we take that offer…and send it, along with you…to hell!" Rakdos shouted, his mask glowing. _

_Another crevice appeared underneath the Cryak, the outstretched arms grabbing it and trying to pull it down. But the Cryak plunged one of its blade arms into the mass of arms below, and it fired a blast of red energy downwards, completely destroying the arms and closing the crevice._

"_Fools, you can join the rest of your kind then."_

_Lumen's mask glowed, and this time light from three different points of the sky shone on the Cryak. Three blasts of white energy fired down the lights, hitting the Cryak and creating a gigantic explosion._

_Both Lumen and Rakdos tensed as they waited for the smoke to clear. Finally the smoke cleared, and the Cryak stood there. One of its arms was completely blown off, and a chunk of its lower body was missing, but its eye just glowed and all of its missing parts appeared back in place!_

"_What the…" Lumen gasped. "How do we kill this thing?"_

_In response more spikes appeared around Lumen and Rakdos. "Shit," Rakdos swore, as the spikes flew forwards, impaling both of them in various places._

"_You humans are a pathetic race," the Cryak said as it glided forward. "So much arrogance…with such little power to support it."_

_Lumen and Rakdos stood up, gingerly pulling the spikes out of their bodies. Both of them ran at the Cryak, swinging their swords, only for their attacks to be blocked by the Cryak's arms. But this time more arms emerged from the Cryak's lower body, puncturing their legs and torsos. As they gasped in pain, the Cryak fired the blast of orange energy from its eye, sending both Shadow Hunters sliding 20 feet backwards!_

_Weakly, and using their swords as a walking stick, the two made it back to their feet, their trench coats in tatters, and more lacerations on them than could be counted._

"_How…are you two not dead yet?" The Cryak wondered. "You both have suffered more bodily harm than your mortal bodies can take? Both of you should be dead!"_

"_Because their will is stronger than their bodies," Chronos' voice said._

_Time slowed for a few moments, and when it resumed back to normal, the Cryak's arms were cut off! _

_Chronos stood with Lumen and Rakdos, his mask glowing and his sword drawn. He had various wounds on his body, especially over his chest area where multiple slash wounds were visible, but he stood quite sturdy._

_The Cryak's arms regenerated and its eye focused on Chronos. "FOOL NOTHING CAN DEFY DEATH!" Its voice hissed in rage._

_Lumen chuckled, even though it caused him to clutch at his wounds. "Without life there can't be death…so the extinction of all life is impossible."_

"_MY POWER CAN DESTROY ANY AND ALL LIVING BEINGS!" The Cryak shouted. _

_Suddenly a massive blast of blue energy hit the Cryak and sent it sliding backwards!_

"_Did you guys think that I would miss the party?" Memnarch laughed his gun smoking._

_A giant mask that was in the form of a bleeding man's face, appeared over the Cryak's eye._

"_AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" It screamed in pain, as greenish blood started to leak from under the mask._

"_You guys all came here and didn't invite me?" Masque asked jokingly, his mask glowing. "I'm hurt."_

_Then a massive beam of white energy shot at the Cryak, which was still struggling with the mask, engulfing it and causing a great explosion!_

"_Sorry I'm late," Julian said, his hands glowing. _

_The smoke cleared, and the Cryak stood there or rather what was left of it. All that was left was a floating eyeball, which glowed ominously. _

"_You pitiful fools, you cannot destroy me!" The Cryak's voice screamed in their heads. Within a few moments, the Cryak's body regenerated fully. Its eye glowed black, and it fired a devastating blast of energy from it, completely engulfing the six Shadow Hunters!_

_The glow in the Cryak's eye faded as the smoke started to clear. It looked into the smoke, and its lone eye widened. "What…how can this be?"_

_All six of them still stood, albeit weakly. Their trench coats were tattered beyond repair, and their masks were cracked. More wounds were present on them, their blood painting the grass dark red._

"_HOW ARE YOU STILL STANDING?" The Cryak demanded. "All of you should be dead!"_

_Chronos chuckled, even as he clutched his ribs. "Apparently your power isn't so great after all."_

"_You will not win today monster," Lumen added, his shoulder bleeding profusely._

_Their masks and hands glowed black, and after a few moments an enormous monster appeared behind each Shadow Hunter. Behind Julian was a golden angelic figure that radiated a bright light. Masque had summoned a disgusting mass melted flesh, with various facial features such as eyes and mouths discernible in the churning ooze. Rakdos had a hulking red demon with black wings, which bore broken shackles on its arms, and wielded a chain. Lumen's monster was a dragon made entirely of white light, which moved like flames. Memnarch had summoned a white robot with golden trim, various rocket launchers and laser cannons aimed at the Cryak. Finally Chronos' monster was a bizarre floating creature, with a lower body consisting of blue material, golden arms and wings, a golden head with one green light, and over its chest and torso was a monitor with the image of an old man._

"_What…what is this?" The Cryak asked, for once showing slight fear. "What are these things that you have summoned?"_

"_Your destruction," Chronos said, as all of the monsters fired massive beams of energy at the Cryak._

"_No I will not lose!" The Cryak shouted, its eye glowing black once again, firing the blast to meet the incoming salvo head on._

_For a few seconds the attacks hit each other, neither giving ground to the other. Then the Cryak's black beam slowly inched forwards, gaining the advantage._

"_Not in this lifetime!" Masque yelled, the glow in his hands intensifying, the aura from them reaching his monster._

_The others followed suit, their monsters becoming stronger with the Hunters power, but the Cryak's attack still pressed forwards._

"_It can't end like this…" Julian whispered, struggling to power up the angel._

"_It's not!" Lumen shouted, a white aura forming around him._

"_I refuse to let this abomination live one more day!" Rakdos declared, a dark red aura surrounding him._

"_Even if we have to give our lives to stop it!" Chronos finished, a golden glow surrounding him._

_All of the sudden, the Cryak's attack stopped progressing. For a few moments the attacks stood evenly, none give ground to the other. Then instantly, the combined attacks of the Shadow Hunters' monsters pushed forward completely, hitting the Cryak and causing an enormous display of power, completely engulfing all of the combatants in a white light!_

_After what seemed like minutes, the light finally sub sided which revealed Julian, Masque, and Memnarch standing, all three of them panting due to the exertion of their attacks. There was no trace of Chronos, Lumen, or Rakdos. Where the Cryak used to be was instead 10 glowing orange gems._

_The rest of the Cryak's army had been obliterated by the explosion, leaving what Shadow Hunters that were left, clutching at their injuries or tending to the ones that were on the verge of death._

"_Is it over?" Julian asked._

_Memnarch looked at the 10 gems, and then he walked over and picked them up, the lights on his mask glowing. "The Cryak…we didn't destroy it…we just split it into ten different parts and sealed a fraction of it into each of these gems."_

"_What of Chronos, Lumen, and Rakdos?" Masque asked, taking one of the gems in his hand and examining it._

"_They sacrificed themselves so that we could summon enough power to stop the Cryak," Memnarch said quietly. "Truly they were the greatest of the Shadow Hunters."_

_Julian clenched his fists. "So what now?"_

_Masque stared at the gem that it was holding, as it emitted a faint glow. "We rebuild," he said._

PRESENT DAY, ENDCHILD ENTERPRISES

"And that is how we managed to stop the Cryak," Julian finished.

"That's…some pretty big stuff…" Anthony said a grave expression on his face.

Julian nodded. "During the Nine Days we lost countless good people to that…nightmare. But to lose those three powerful Shadow Hunters…it was a reality check."

"All of that still doesn't explain why the Shadow Hunters are trying to bring back the Cryak," Zane pointed out.

"Ah I was getting to that part," Julian continued. "After the Nine Days, we had a burial for Chronos, Lumen, and Rakdos; or rather a mourning since there weren't any bodies to bury."

Julian took a breath, then he said, "For a few weeks we recovered, healing our wounds, and trying to restore what sanity we had left, but the Cryak wouldn't be so easily destroyed."

"What do you mean?" Aster asked. "You guys blew that thing to kingdom come!"

"Alas Aster, if only we did. For you see, even though the Cryak's physical form was sealed into the ten Eyes…its ability to influence still remained strong. It whispered things into the minds of the Shadow Hunters, promising power and immortality…after we all experienced firsthand what the Cryak was capable of. Some Hunters were able to resist the temptation, just as Lumen and Rakdos were able to do…others…fell to their inner lust for power."

Julian sighed. "One of them…was my old friend…Masque the Faceless One."

_THREE WEEKS AFTER THE NINTH DAY OF DESTRUCTION_

_Julian dodged an incoming slash from a masked man thrusting his sword through the Shadow Hunter's stomach._

_Around him, Shadow Hunters were fighting each other, firing blasts of energy, summoning monsters, using weapons, whatever they could to kill the opposing Hunters. _

_Memnarch was facing Akroma, his futuristic gun pointed at her. "Akroma don't make me do this…" he said carefully._

_Akroma laughed. "Then give us the Eyes of the Cryak!"_

_Memnarch sighed, and then he fired his weapon, only for Akroma to roll to the side, throwing a knife that struck Memnarch's shoulder! Quickly, he pulled it out, and as Akroma ran at him, her daggers shining maliciously, he fired another blast from his gun, which she dodged again. What she didn't expect was for Memnarch to take advantage of the distraction to plunge her own throwing knife into her chest!_

_In response she stabbed him with her two daggers, resulting in both of them standing there and holding their respective weapons. Akroma suddenly felt the cold feel of metal against her stomach._

"_Good bye Blessed One," Memnarch said, as he pulled the trigger, firing a blast from his gun that sent Akroma flying backwards, slamming her into a wall._

_Memnarch pulled the daggers out of his body casually, advancing towards the fallen Akroma, who lay crumpled against the wall. She moaned as he got closer, weakly trying to stand up, only to fall back down. Memnarch went up to her and pointed his gun point blank to her head, the lights on his mask glowing ominously._

"_If killing you will free you from the Cryak's influence, then so be it." Memnarch was about to fire when he was tackled by Masque! _

_The Faceless One wrestled the gun out of Memnarch's hand, which in turn kicked him away. Both of them stood a distance apart, facing each other._

"_Masque, end this madness now! Can't you see what the Cryak's lies are making you do?" Memnarch pleaded._

"_Fool, you are the one that is playing into the Cryak's hands! Give me the Eyes Memnarch!" Masque ordered._

_As this was happening, Julian was engaged in a swordfight with Frost. Both of them were evenly matched._

"_Frost why are you doing this?" Julian demanded, blocking a blow from Frost's sword. "Can't you see that we're trying to stop the Cryak?"_

_Frost chuckled, swinging his weapon again. "You're just helping the Cryak by holding on to the Eyes Gabriel."_

"_Gabriel, get the Eyes and keep them safe!" Memnarch ordered, as he dodged a blast of energy that Masque fired._

"_You can't be serious!" Julian protested. "What about the others? What about you?"_

"_The Eyes of the Cryak are more important! You must not let them go to the wrong hands!" Memnarch yelled. "The rest of us will cover your escape!"_

_Julian fired a blast of golden energy at Frost, sending him flying backwards. "I won't let you down!" He said before turning away and running._

PRESENT DAY, ENDCHILD ENTERPRISES

"The Shadow Hunters became divided, and a schism occurred," Julian narrated. "One side, corrupted by the Cryak's influence, led by Masque the Faceless One, the other side, still dedicated to the Shadow Hunter's original purpose, led by Memnarch the Mechanized One. That battle was dreadful, friends killed friends, loved ones killed loved ones, and in the end Masque's side won. What was left of the noble Shadow Hunters were slain, and Memnarch disappeared, assumed killed my Masque himself. I am all that is left, and that is why I need your help to protect the Eyes of the Cryak." Julian finally finished.

Gabriel walked in, holding a silver box. He handed it to Julian, who opened it, revealing 10 orange gems, with strings through them.

"I understand if you wish to back out, but I need all of the help I can get," Julian begged.

Jaden looked at the box for a moment, and then he sprang up and took one of the gems, putting it around his neck. "These Shadow Hunters better get their game on!"

Anthony stood up next, quickly taking one of the Eyes as well. "I can't just sit still as the entire human race is in danger!"

Isabella followed suit, wearing the gem around her neck. "Hmmm…I think it goes well with my outfit!"

The others smacked their foreheads. "Anthony…" Julian whispered. "Are you sure she's as good as you say she is."

"Um…even if she was not it's too late now…when she likes an accessory or a piece of clothing…it's impossible to take it away from her." Anthony whispered back.

Matt took a gem. "These Shadow Hunters won't know what hit them!"

"Just like Duel Academy days," Zane sighed, taking a gem as well.

"Amen to that," Alexis agreed, putting the Eye around her neck.

"Destiny isn't on the Shadow Hunter's side," Aster said, grabbing a gem.

"No way am I missing out on this!" Jesse exclaimed, taking the second last gem.

Yugi walked over to the box, taking the last Eye. "With so many lives at stake, I'll do anything I can to stop these monsters."

Julian smiled as he examined his ten chosen duelists. "Thank you, this means more to me than you will ever know." Suddenly his face turned serious. "Before I let you leave, I must warn you about the Shadow Hunters that you will be facing."

The ten duelists nodded. "Alright shoot," Jaden acknowledged.

"The Shadow Hunters' numbers were reduced to almost nothing after the schism, so all that's left is five of them," Julian explained. "As I said before they are led by Masque the Faceless one, and they all have codenames which resemble the ones that I have told you of already. Each Shadow Hunter is an extremely powerful duelist, capable of defeating multiple opponents simultaneously with ease. But as I told you in my story, Shadow Hunters also have devastating abilities in combat, and they can summon real monsters. They will challenge you by sending their weakest member first, then their second weakest, and so forth, until only Masque is left. But be warned, when the Shadow Hunters weren't corrupted by the Cryak, Masque the Faceless One was only surpassed by Rakdos the Fallen One, Lumen the Pure One, Memnarch the Mechanized One, and Chronos the Infinite One, as such he will be very dangerous."

"Gotcha!" Jesse nodded. "Anything else?"

"Yes actually, you will be followed by members of my security, who will try to protect you if the Shadow Hunters resort to using dirty tactics," Julian said. "Also, I advise you all stay in a hotel here, in New York. This way we can all stay close together, and you won't be as open targets for the Hunters. I can pay for everything."

"That sounds splendid!" Isabella beamed. "Thank you for your hospitality!"

Julian gave a small smile. "You're very welcome; now the ten of you should go get some rest…you have a tough task ahead."

The duelists nodded, and one by one the left Julian's office, leaving him alone with Gabriel.

"The Council will send whatever help they can," Gabriel told Julian.

Julian sighed. "Thanks to the Cryak, four of the most powerful Shadow Hunters are gone…I hope that somehow…someway…these kids can finish what those four started…."

**Basketballdude51:** Well there you have it! The tragic story of the Shadow Hunters, Julian, the Cryak, and the Nine Days of Destruction has been explained! Now that the ten guardians have received their Eyes of the Cryak, the Shadow Hunters can finally strike!

**Ten duelists now wear targets around their necks; in the next chapter the first of the Shadow Hunters makes his move! The next chapter starts a series of dark duels…don't miss: Blood, Sweat and Tears.**


	6. Blood, Sweat, and Tears Part 1

**Chapter 5: Blood, Sweat and Tears Part 1**

By: Basketballdude51

(This is going to be the sixth time I've said this…I don't own Yugioh.)

UNKNOWN LOCATION

"Julian has assembled his so called guardians," Frost, the Cold Hearted One said to Masque, the Faceless One.

Eight masked people dressed in black trench coats stood together, shadows obscuring five of them, leaving Masque, Frost, and Akroma visible.

Akroma giggled. "That Matt Avalon is kind of cute…I call dibs!"

Masque smacked his forehead. "Akroma there will be no calling of dibs!" He hissed. "I doubt that these duelists will even defeat one of us, let alone make their way up to you."

"Aw Masque you're no fun!" Akroma pouted, putting her hands on her hips. "Can't we just break the order just this once?"

"No! We must not expose ourselves unnecessarily!" Masque scolded. "Julian has already told the chosen duelists about the Shadow Hunters and the Cryak, the last thing we need is to give them more information."

Akroma sighed. "I swear, ever since the Nine Days you've always been such a downer Masque!" And with that she walked away.

"Perhaps you should've let Memnarch finish her," Frost suggested.

Masque groaned. "As smart as that sounds, Akroma is only surpassed by me and you in terms of rank and skill."

Frost chuckled. "Have you already forgotten about Chronos, Lumen, Rakdos, and Memnarch?"

"They're gone," Masque replied flatly. "There is nobody left to play hero this time."

Masque then turned to the five unknown figures. "Well Keldon, the Brutal One…are you ready to do your part?"

One of the figures stepped forward, revealing a man with a white mask covering his face. On the mask was the kanji for "blood" on it, disturbingly written in what seemed like actual blood, with seemingly fresh splatters of it on the mask. "Of course I'm ready Masque."

"Any particular prey you have in mind?" Masque questioned.

Keldon's mask glowed ominously. "I sensed great power in a few of them...I wish to test one in particular."

"So be it." Masque nodded.

ROYAL PARADISE HOTEL, SUITE 209

"Whoa Julian really overdid it on the hotel thing didn't he?" Jaden asked, his eyes wide open in awe.

Alexis, Aster, Zane, and Jesse followed Jaden into their suite, their jaws dropping. The suite was complete with two kitchens, a dining room, a living room, five bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, an entertainment room, and various rooms that served no immediate purpose. Ornate furniture littered the suite, and expensive looking appliances and electronics glistened, looking brand new.

"As a Pro League duelist I live pretty high class…" Aster muttered, "But this takes the cake!"

"I could definitely get used to this," Alexis said.

"I can't wait to see what's in the fridge!" Jaden ran over to the fridge and opened it.

"Same old Jaden," Jesse chuckled.

Alexis looked over at Jaden, who had just started to eat an entire block of cheese. She smiled. _Yes…same old Jaden._

The Slifer student poked his head out of the fridge, his cheeks swelling due to the amount of food in his mouth. Swallowing he grinned. "Oh man I need more!"

"Wait did you eat everything in the fridge?" Aster asked as he looked inside it, to find the fridge devoid of any food. "How did you manage to do that?"

"Aw Jaden, what about the rest of us?" Jesse asked.

Jaden rubbed his head sheepishly. "Sorry guys, I guess I kinda forgot about you when my appetite kicked in."

Aster sighed. "Let's go to the hotel restaurant."

"I'm in!" Jesse agreed.

Zane nodded. "I could use a bite to eat.

Alexis shrugged. "I'm not hungry right now to be honest."

"Suit yourself Alexis," Aster said, he and the others left the suite, leaving Alexis alone with Jaden.

"Well it looks like it's just you and me Lex!" Jaden said matter of factly, causing the girl to blush lightly.

"Yes it is," Alexis smiled, looking at Jaden.

Both of them awkwardly looked at each other for a moment before Alexis asked, "So how's it going Jaden? I mean none of us have heard from you since the whole Darkness incident. Did you save the world two more times in your absence?"

Jaden chuckled. "Nothing like that…look…Alexis…I'm sorry for leaving all of you on such short notice."

Alexis raised her eyebrows. "Any particular reason you did? If it was because of Chazz I'll understand," she joked.

Jaden laughed for a bit, then his face turned serious. "No nothing like that. It's just that all over the world there are people who need help from Shadow Duelists, and that stuff…just like Julian said. Since I have the power to see spirits, I figured that I'd try to help out as many people as I could."

"Jaden…" Alexis said softly.

"The day where I met Julian, I felt something call me to that spot that day. I sat there for hours waiting for something to happen, and it did, and now I'm here, trying to stop the Shadow Hunters, and I get to see my friends again." Jaden grinned at the last part. "So how's life treating ya Lex?"

Alexis smiled at the brunette. "Well I've been studying at Stanford University to become a Duel Monsters professor."

"Good for you Alexis!" Jaden said. "You're a great duelist and a great student too! I'm sure that you'll be perfect for that!"

The blonde girl blushed at his compliment. "Thanks Jaden."

He smiled at her. "Don't mention it Lex." Then he took his deck out of his pocket. "I haven't dueled you in ages, so how about a friendly table top duel?"

"Oh it's on, don't think I'll take it easy on you just because you've saved the world a few times," Alexis giggled, taking her deck out of pocket.

"Then Lex…get ready to get your game on!"

SUITE 208

Meanwhile, Anthony and Matt had already devoured all of the food in their fridge. "I'M STARVING!" Anthony yelled.

Matt punched him in the face. "SO AM I BECAUSE YOU ATE HALF OF THE FOOD!"

"MAYBE IF YOU DIDN'T EAT HALF OF THE FOOD THEN I WOULDN'T BE STARVING, YOU EVER THOUGHT OF THAT WISE GUY?" Anthony asked.

Isabella, Yugi, and Harrison stared at the display of gluttony and stupidity. "I knew I should've asked for a room alone…" Harrison muttered.

"Don't be silly Harrison!" Isabella said. "We can't have you being a loner!" She touched him on the shoulder for a second, causing him to blush.

"Uh….um…well…thanks!" Harrison said shyly. Then he hurried off to his bedroom.

Isabella shrugged, turning to Yugi. "I hope you aren't too bothered by those two."

Yugi laughed. "I have two friends that act just like them, don't worry about it." Then he yawned. "But I think I'll take this time to go to bed, we'll need to be rested if we are to take on these Shadow Hunters."

"Very true Yugi. Well then have a goodnight!" Isabella replied.

"You too Isabella," and with that Yugi left.

"YOU FAT SLOB!" Matt insulted, taking a rolling pin out of a drawer, brandishing it violently.

"YOU GLUTTONOUS BASTARD!" Anthony shot back, taking a wine bottle and wielding it menacingly.

15 MINUTES LATER

"Well boys…I think you two learned your lesson." Isabella said a smirk on her lips.

"Damn Isabella...why'd you have to hit us so hard?" Matt complained, bruises all over his face. "How am I supposed to get girls now?"

"I…can't…feel…anything…except for pain…" Anthony moaned.

"Serves you two right for fighting over food!" Isabella lectured. "Maybe next time you'll think twice before acting idiotic!"

Matt sighed. "I think I'm going to try and go to bed…maybe when I wake up I'll be good looking again." He got up, gingerly limping to his room, leaving Anthony and Isabella.

"I guess you're right Isabella," Anthony grinned, rubbing his head sheepishly. "But you know how Matt and I get over food."

Isabella's face softened. "Indeed I do." She walked over and sat beside Anthony. "You haven't changed much."

"Neither have you," Anthony replied. "Still acting like a spoiled shallow brat when there are others around, I see."

"Old habits die hard," she shrugged.

Anthony looked at her, a serious look on his face. "On a completely unrelated note…are you ready to face the Shadow Hunters?"

"Do I have much of a choice?" Isabella asked, turning to look at him, her pretty face arranged in a somber look. "Julian's story was horrible. All of those people dying, the loss of his loved one, and now this Cryak is threatening to return once again. That is something that I will not allow."

"Still the same pure heart that I saw when I first met you," Anthony smiled. "Even though you have everything, you're willing to risk it all to help others."

Isabella's face turned pink for a moment, and then she said, "I have you to thank for that."

"Maybe, but life has a way of making things go around," Anthony shrugged casually. "I'm still hungry, wanna go for a bite?"

The girl smiled at him. "Why of course, since you and Matt ate everything, paying for me is the least you can do!"

"Aw man, why do I have to pay? You're way richer than me!" Anthony whined.

The two of them walked out of the hotel, heading down the street. "So do you have any suggestions as to where to eat?" Isabella asked.

"Well there's a Burger Place right there," Anthony pointed at a fast food restaurant across the street.

Isabella frowned. "Burgers are so…dirty."

Anthony grinned. "Come on…you know you want one…" he pressured.

"Fine," Isabella relented. "I guess I can afford to indulge."

"You can afford to do anything," Anthony joked, as the two walked into the restaurant.

The two of them went over to order, as there was no line inside.

"What will it be?" The teenage boy at the register asked.

"Three Double Burgers, large fries and a large iced tea." Anthony told him.

"An Angus Cheeseburger, with Italian salad and water please," Isabella said.

"Be right up!" The boy said, as Anthony gave him a handful of bills. In exchange the boy passed him a tray loaded with food.

Anthony and Isabella went over to a table and sat down. "How do you eat so much?" Isabella wondered.

Anthony's mouth was already filled with his first bite of burger. After swallowing it he simply said, "Food is the joy of life," then he resumed eating.

Isabella sighed, and then she started to eat.

For a few moments the two of them ate their food quietly. After both of them were finished Anthony grinned, leaning back against the chair. "Well…I think I'm good for today!" He declared.

Isabella giggled. "Are you really? Perhaps you would like to order 20 more burgers?"

"Don't tempt me Isabella," Anthony grinned.

"Are you sure you don't want any more calorie filled, greasy, fatty burgers?" Isabella asked, licking her lips jokingly.

"You have a way of making anything sound appetizing," Anthony smirked.

The two of them got up and left the restaurant, heading into the warm night, only to see Keldon, the Brutal One standing outside, a duel disk in the shape of a Samurai helmet on his arm!

"You two should be careful, I hear that those gemstones you're wearing are quite valuable," he chuckled.

Anthony and Isabella took notice of his mask. "You're a Shadow Hunter aren't you?" Isabella demanded, her eyes narrowing.

"Why yes I am, how astute of you," Keldon answered evenly. "My codename is Keldon, the Brutal One…and I'm here to challenge you Anthony Le!"

Anthony looked at Keldon for a moment, and then a smirk appeared on his face. "So I'm guessing we do the whole Shadow Game thing and if you win you get my Eye of the Cryak." He stated matter-of-factly, as he fingered the gem around his neck.

"Actually, I see great power within you…I would like to test it." And with that his hands glowed black, and he ran forwards, throwing a punch at Anthony.

Anthony sidestepped the blow, countering with a knee to Keldon's midsection, which seemed to have no effect. Keldon went for a haymaker but Anthony blocked it with his arm. Quickly, Anthony punched Keldon in the face, causing the Shadow Hunter to slide back a few feet. Keldon was about launch another attack but he was surprised by a blast of dark energy, which sent him flying backwards!

Isabella glared at Keldon, her eyes glowing black. "Like I would let you hurt him!" She spat.

For a second Anthony looked at her surprised, then he smiled. "Isabella…I appreciate it, but he's mine."

The girl looked at Anthony questionably. "Are you sure?"

"Yes ma'am," he grinned. "Don't worry I'll come back in one piece for you."

The glow in Isabella's eyes subsided as she nodded. "Be careful then."

"Now that you two have finished with your touchy feely moment, can we get back to the part where I kill you both?" Keldon interrupted, a huge two handed sword appearing in his hands. He ran forwards, intending to bring the blade down on Anthony's head.

"Anthony!" Isabella yelled.

The boy just stood there calmly, a smirk on his face. Right before the blade could make contact, Anthony caught it between the palms of his hands! Keldon tried to press forward, but the weapon wouldn't move down any further.

"I'm not impressed," Anthony said, as the black aura in his hands spread throughout the sword, causing it to melt completely.

"What how can this be?" Keldon demanded. "How do you have Shadow Powers such as these?"

"Do you really think that this is my first experience with Shadow Magic?" Anthony taunted. "I've picked up on a few tricks throughout my encounters with dark magic."

"So you are indeed very powerful," Keldon murmured. "Maybe you will be a formidable opponent for the Hunters after all."

UNKNOWN LOCATION

"That's not possible!" Akroma protested, as she, Frost, and Masque watched the altercation on a monitor. "How did that boy destroy Keldon's sword?"

Masque watched the screen thoughtfully. "Perhaps…this Anthony Le…is not a weak, helpless prey like so many that the Hunters have dealt with before. Maybe…just maybe…he is a hunter of his own…"

"What do you mean Masque?" Akroma asked.

"Watch this duel," Masque said. "It will answer your question."

BACK WITH ANTHONY AND KELDON

"I see that you are much stronger than I first thought," Keldon remarked. "So how about I test your power the proper way? We duel in a Shadow Game, the winner gets the Eye and the loser will be on his way."

Anthony smirked, as the dark aura around his hand spread up his arm, manifesting itself into a standard duel disk. "I accept, but I warn you Shadow Hunter…you have no idea what you're dealing with."

Isabella looked at Anthony, worry etched into her face. "Be careful Anthony!"

Keldon activated his duel disk. "You shouldn't be talking girl, because after I'm through with Anthony…you're next!"

"I won't let that happen!" Anthony declared, activating his own duel disk.

Anthony: 8000 LP Keldon: 8000 LP

A dome of darkness surrounded the three as the holographic coin appeared. "I call heads!" Anthony declared.

The coin landed on tails, leading Keldon to laugh. "Then I guess the first move is mine." He drew a card. "I summon The Six Samurai – Yaichi (ATK 1300, DEF 800) in attack mode!"

A samurai dressed in yellow armor and wielding a bow appeared on the field.

"I'll finish my turn with one card facedown, your move guardian."

"My pleasure," Anthony smirked, drawing a card. "I summon Mystic Tomato (ATK 1400, DEF 1100)!"

A fiendish looking tomato appeared in front of Anthony, sticking its tongue out at Keldon.

"Now I'll attack with him!" Anthony motioned to the monster, causing it to leap at Yaichi.

"I don't think so!" Keldon countered. "I activate my trap card, Negate Attack!"

The tomato stopped its attack and went back to Anthony's side of the field.

Anthony scowled. "I will set two cards facedown to finish my turn."

Keldon nodded, drawing a card. "First off I'll play the continuous spell, Shien's Dojo!"

An oriental style building appeared behind Keldon, which seemed to be a training ground of some sort.

"Next I summon The Six Samurai – Yariza (ATK 1000, DEF 500) in attack mode!"

Another samurai appeared in front of Keldon, this one dressed in green armor and wielding a katana made of green light.

Suddenly a banner appeared on the dojo, causing Anthony to raise his eyebrows. "What's that about?" He asked.

"Whenever I play a Six Samurai monster, my spell will get what is known as a Bushido Counter," Keldon explained. "That's all I'll say about it for now."

Keldon continued. "Now I'll play the spell, Asceticism of the Six Samurai!"

Anthony narrowed his eyes. "Would you mind explaining what that card does?"

"It'll be my pleasure," Keldon said, as he started looking through his deck. "I choose one of my Six Samurai monsters on the field; in this case it will be Yaichi. Next I am allowed to special summon a Six Samurai monster from my deck with equal or less attack points, but it cannot share the same name as Yaichi. However the monster I chose at the beginning will be destroyed at the end of my turn."

Keldon finally found the card he was looking for. Placing it on his duel disk he said, "I will special summon Spirit of the Six Samurai (ATK 500, DEF 500)!"

A set of floating samurai armor appeared on the field, seemingly being worn by an invisible being. The appearance of this monster caused a second banner to appear on the Dojo.

"Now I equip Spirit of the Six Samurai to Yaichi!"

Yaichi's yellow armor disappeared, to be replaced by the spirit's purple armor, causing Yaichi to glow with energy (ATK 1800, DEF 1300).

Before Anthony could open his mouth Keldon explained, "I can equip Spirit of the Six Samurai to any Six Samurai monster, and the equipped monster gains 500 ATK and DEF points, also whenever the equipped monster destroys a monster in battle, I will get to draw a card. But first since I have another Six Samurai on my field that has a different name than Yaichi, I can use Yaichi's effect to destroy one of your facedown cards. Go Yaichi, destroy the set card on the left!"

Yaichi shot his bow at one of Anthony's facedown cards, skewering it and revealing it to be a Mirror Force.

"Also, since I have another Six Samurai other than Yariza," Keldon said, motioning towards Yaichi. "He can attack directly! Go Yariza, show him the power of the Hunters!"

Yariza ran past the tomato, and slashed at Anthony with his sword, then he went back to Keldon's side of the field.

Anthony: 7000 LP Keldon: 8000

"Anthony!" Isabella yelled, as the boy clutched his chest, which had a deep laceration in it from the attack.

"I should mention that all direct attacks will be very real," Keldon laughed. "So the possibility of dying in this duel is highly likely unless you have the power of a Hunter."

Anthony scowled at Keldon, but said nothing.

"Now I'll attack your fruit with Yaichi!" Keldon declared.

Yaichi fired his bow again, this time impaling the Mystic Tomato.

Anthony: 6600 LP Keldon: 8000 LP

Anthony grinned. "Whenever Mystic Tomato is destroyed, I get to search my deck for a Dark attribute monster with 1500 or less ATK points, and summon it. So I think I'll play Clear Vice Dragon (ATK ?, DEF 0)!"

A grey dragon incased in crystal appeared in place of Anthony's fallen monster.

"Well I get to draw a card thanks to my Spirit of the Six Samurai," Keldon countered as he drew a card. "And to finish my turn I'll place a card facedown."

Anthony grinned, "Now Yaichi will be destroyed!"

"Not precisely," Keldon chuckled, as the Spirit of the Six Samurai's armor shattered, leaving Yaichi with his regular attire (ATK 1300, DEF 800).

"What? Yaichi should've been destroyed!" Anthony protested.

"Under normal circumstances he would have, but since he was equipped with Spirit of the Six Samurai, the spirit was destroyed instead," Keldon explained. "Now make your move."

Anthony drew a card, scowling. Isabella looked on worriedly. _This Shadow Hunter…the way he duels…he has all of his bases covered. He countered Anthony's attack, and retaliated with a stronger attack…all while that Dojo over there keeps on gaining counters!_

"I won't lie Shadow Hunter," Anthony said. "You definitely have some skill, but I won't let you bring back the Cryak!"

Keldon didn't respond.

"I summon Infernal Dragon (ATK 2000, DEF 0)!" Anthony declared, as the dark green dragon appeared.

"Now I'll attack Yaichi with Clear Vice Dragon!"

"What? You don't even know that monster's ATK points!" Keldon shouted.

Anthony grinned. "Whenever Clear Vice Dragon attacks a monster, it's ATK points are double of the monster that it's attacking for the damage step only."

The dragon burst out of its crystal case (ATK 2600, DEF 0), and fired a blast of grey energy of its mouth at Yaichi.

"I activate Raigeki Break!" Keldon yelled. "I'll discard Legendary Six Samurai – Enishi (ATK 1700, DEF 700) to destroy Clear Vice Dragon!"

A bolt of lightning hit the dragon, only for Anthony to respond. "I use Clear Vice Dragon's effect, by discarding one card from my hand, such as Red Eyes Black Dragon (ATK 2400, DEF 2000), his destruction from a card effect is negated!"

The dragon was unaffected by the lightning, and its attack it Yaichi, destroying the warrior.

Anthony: 6600 LP Keldon: 6700 LP

"Now Infernal Dragon attacks Yariza!"

The dragon impaled Keldon's remaining samurai with its tail.

Anthony: 6600 LP Keldon: 5700 LP

"I will place one card facedown to end my turn, which means that since Infernal Dragon attacked it is destroyed." He finished as Infernal Dragon exploded, and Clear Vice Dragon was encased in crystal again.

Keldon drew a card slowly. "You truly possess great power," he said, looking at Anthony. "Perhaps even enough to be an annoyance to the Hunters."

Anthony laughed. "I'm more than an annoyance, and you'll find that out after I beat you!"

"Unfortunately for you, since you are a threat I must eliminate you." Keldon warned. "I play Pot of Greed to draw two cards!" he said, doing so. "Next I will summon The Six Samurai – Zanji (ATK 1800, DEF 1300)!"

Another samurai monster appeared, this one dressed in red armor, and carrying a long stick with a curved blade at the end, causing a third banner to appear on the dojo.

"Since I possess a Six Samurai monster on the field, I can special summon Grandmaster of the Six Samurai (ATK 2100, DEF 800)!"

A fourth banner appeared as an old man dressed in grey armor and carrying a large two handed sword appeared.

Keldon chuckled. "I assume you are curious as to what my Shien's Dojo can do correct?"

"Yeah just a bit," Anthony replied, narrowing his eyes.

"It has four bushido tokens on it right now," Keldon pointed at the four banners. "I can send the Dojo to the graveyard to summon a Six Samurai monster from my deck whose level is equal to or lesser than the number of bushido tokens on it. And I think I'll evoke its ability now! I sacrifice Shien's Dojo to summon The Six Samurai - Nisashi (ATK 1400, DEF 700), a level four monster!"

The dojo vanished, and a samurai dressed in green armor and carrying dual katanas appeared.

"Now since I obviously have a Six Samurai monster that is not named Nisashi on the field, Nisashi can attack twice. And you said that Clear Vice Dragon only gains double the attack strength of the monster it is battle when it is attacking, not when it gets attacked. So right now it effectively has 0 ATK points! So my three monsters will be essentially hitting you directly for 6700 points of damage!" Keldon pointed out.

A fearful look appeared on Isabella's face. "Anthony do something, you only have 6600 life points left!" She screamed.

"He can't! And in a few moments I will have his Eye of the Cryak!" Keldon laughed triumphantly. "Nisashi attack his Clear Vice Dragon!"

The samurai ran at the immobilized dragon and sliced it in half with his sword.

Anthony: 5200 LP Keldon: 5700 LP

"Attack him directly Nisashi!" Keldon ordered.

The same samurai slashed at Anthony's abdomen, causing blood to seep out of his stomach. Anthony clutched at the wound, trying to lessen the amount of blood he was losing.

Anthony: 3800 LP Keldon: 5700 LP

"Your turn Zanji!"

The red armored samurai ran forwards, stabbing Anthony in the chest with the blade at the end of his stick, causing the boy to scream in pain.

Anthony: 2000 LP Keldon: 5700 LP

"Now to finish you, Grandmaster of the Six Samurai, attack him directly and win me the duel!" Keldon commanded.

The old man nodded, running forwards with his sword.

"ANTHONY STOP LETTING THIS SHADOW HUNTER HURT YOU AND DO SOMETHING!" Isabella screamed at the top of her lungs.

Anthony grinned, even as blood leaked from his mouth. "I activate my trap card, Nutrient Z! Since I've obviously taken more than 2000 life points worth of damage this turn, I gain 4000 life points!"

Anthony: 6000 LP Keldon: 5700 LP

The samurai continued its attack, slicing into Anthony's shoulder with its two handed sword, sending the boy to his knees.

Anthony: 3900 LP Keldon: 5700 LP

"I'm still here," Anthony remarked coolly, even as he clutched at his injuries.

"YOU IDIOT!" Isabella yelled at him. "I ALMOST HAD A HEART ATTACK BECAUSE I THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO LOSE! IF YOU WEREN'T DUELING RIGHT NOW I'D SLAP YOU SILLY!"

"Well what was I supposed to do? Say out loud that I was setting Nutrient Z?" Anthony asked, a smirk on his face.

"Ugh fine," Isabella grumbled.

"So you managed to survive for one more turn," Keldon said. "Make your last move."

Anthony drew a card weakly. Then a smile appeared on his face. "I want you to know that I have three dark attribute monsters in my graveyard right now: Clear Vice Dragon, the Red Eyes Black Dragon I discarded for Clear Vice Dragon's effect, and Mystic Tomato."

"What does it matter?" Keldon shrugged.

Anthony laughed. "Since I have exactly three dark monsters in my graveyard I can special summon Dark Armed Dragon (ATK 2800, DEF 1000)!"

A dark shadow loomed over the field, and out of it emerged a hulking black dragon with numerous metal blades and spikes sticking out of it.

Keldon wasn't impressed. "That monster may have the highest attack points on the field, but it's still outnumbered! And my life points are much higher than yours right now."

Anthony grinned. "Dark Armed Dragon's special ability allows me to banish a dark monster in my graveyard to destroy one card on the field. And I can use this ability as many times as I want as long as I have the necessary monsters in my graveyard!"

"But that means…that you can destroy all of my monsters!" Keldon realized.

"That's right," Anthony said. "But before that I'll summon Eclipse Wyvern (ATK 1600, DEF 1000) to the field!"

A dragon whose body was half white, and half black with red trip appeared beside Dark Armed Dragon.

"And now I'll remove Clear Vice Dragon, Red Eyes Black Dragon, and Mystic Tomato to destroy all three of your Six Samurai!"

Three orbs of darkness appeared, and they floated into Dark Armed Dragon. Suddenly the dragon roared and three metal blades fired from its body, slicing all of Keldon's monsters!

"When Grandmaster of the Six Samurai is destroyed by my opponent's card effect, I can add a Six Samurai monster from my grave to my hand," Keldon growled, as he added Zanji to his hand.

"That's fine since now you're wide open!" Anthony said. "Dark Armed Dragon attack him directly!"

The dragon fired a barrage of spikes and blades from its body, which impaled and sliced at Keldon! The Shadow Hunter staggered back as blood started to leak from his wounds.

Anthony: 3900 LP Keldon: 2900 LP

"Eclipse Wyvern, get in on the fun too!"

The dragon fired a blast of half light and half dark energy at Keldon, sending the Shadow Hunter to his knees.

Anthony: 3900 LP Keldon: 1300 LP

"With that I end my turn," Anthony concluded.

Keldon gingerly got back to his feet, even as blood dripped from his body. "Impressive," he complimented. "You are the only person to have ever driven me this far in a duel, and for that I commend you."

"Trust me; I intend to drive you even farther…as in all the way to the afterlife!" Anthony declared.

Keldon shook his head. "I doubt you have the ability to do that. But since you have pushed me so far, you will have the honor of seeing my full power!"

Suddenly Keldon's hand glowed red, and the top card of his deck glowed red as well. He drew, and without even looking at the card he drew he set it facedown. "It's your move."

Anthony looked at Keldon, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. "You played a card facedown without even looking at it…you do realize that if any of my monsters hit you…you'll lose."

"Against a normal duelist that would be true," Keldon said passively.

"Normal or not, if your life points hit zero then you lose!" Anthony shouted. "Dark Armed Dragon, Eclipse Wyvern, attack him directly!"

Both dragons launched their attacks at Keldon who calmly said, "I activate my trap card, Brutality!"

"What?" Anthony and Isabella asked, as the attacks hit Keldon, sending him to the ground.

Anthony checked his duel disk, his eyes widening as he saw that the counter that kept track of Keldon's life points just had a question mark. He looked at his life point counter and saw the same thing.

"What did you do?" Anthony demanded.

Keldon slowly got up, clutching at his leg, which had a spike embedded in it. He pulled it out and chuckled. "I am called 'the Brutal One' and this trap card symbolizes that. It cannot be destroyed or negated or removed from the field in any way."

"Ok fine so I have to deal with this card for the rest of the duel," Anthony said. "It still doesn't explain why both of our life points are unknown right now."

Keldon continued. "We have no life points."

"Wait a second!" Isabella interrupted. "Of course you have life points, after the entire objective in duel monsters is to either reduce your opponent's life points to zero, or to deck them out!"

"Brutality changes that," Keldon explained. "This card makes life points irrelevant. From now on, at any moment in this duel, a duelist is not standing on his own two feet, a sword will appear above them." A scimitar appeared above Keldon for emphasis, before vanishing. "For each second that they are not standing, another sword will appear. If 20 swords appear, the duelist loses, and the swords will kill him. Of course if you make it back to your feet before the count of 20, then the swords will disappear and the process will begin anew whenever a duelist is down again."

Isabella's eyes widened. "But that means that…the only way to win…is to outlast your opponent!" She paled as she looked at Anthony, who was barely standing, more blood seeping to the ground each second.

"You're sick!" Anthony spat, even as he coughed out blood.

"I am called 'the Brutal One' for my ability to brutally punish my opponents, and for how I'm able to withstand unimaginable amounts of damage," Keldon laughed. "So the only way for you to win this duel, keep your life, and keep your Eye of the Cryak is to beat me at my own game!"

**Basketballdude51:** Sorry for the long update, I've been busy with school! But now the conflict with the Shadow Hunters and the Guardians start, with Anthony being the first target!

**Anthony is still locked in a duel with Keldon the Brutal One, except now life points don't matter! Can Anthony actually beat a Shadow Hunter in a duel where the only way to win is to beat your opponent so bad that they can't stand? After what you've seen the Shadow Hunters do so far it seems unlikely…but you'll find out in the next chapter: Blood, Sweat, and Tears Part 2.**


	7. Blood, Sweat, and Tears Part 2

**Chapter 6: Blood, Sweat and Tears Part 2**

By: Basketballdude51

(I don't own Yugioh.)

SHADOW REALM

Anthony's side of the field had two monsters; the Dark Armed Dragon (ATK 2800, DEF 1000) and Eclipse Wyvern (ATK 1600, DEF 1000). Meanwhile Keldon only had the trap card Brutality face up on his field, which made both duelists' life points irrelevant.

"So close to beating me guardian…but now you play under my rules," Keldon taunted. "Shadow Hunters are trained to withstand the most brutal forms of physical and mental torture; we can do things that are physiologically impossible for humans. How do you expect you win now in this type of duel?"

Anthony wiped some of the blood leaking from his mouth with his hand. "Thanks to that card of yours it's pretty obvious how I have to win."

"You are strong, I give you that." Keldon acknowledged. "You also would have won this duel if I didn't use Brutality. So at least in this case Julian made the right choice in making you one of the guardians. Since you have been such a worthy opponent, I offer you the chance to surrender right now and save yourself any further pain. Your demise will be quick and painless."

Anthony closed his eyes, and then he spoke. "This isn't about how much suffering I have to go through. The fact is if I lose this duel, you Shadow Hunters will be one step closer to unleashing a nightmare upon billions of lives, and I could never live with myself if I let you do that…no matter what it costs me."

Isabella worriedly looked at Anthony, who was clutching his bleeding torso, his breathing shallow and ragged. But then he opened his eyes, which to Keldon's surprise now glowed with a white light!

A small smile appeared on Isabella's face. _Just like you said Anthony…if you fight for the right reasons you can't lose_, she said to herself.

"I'll end my turn, since I can't do anything else right now," Anthony finished.

Keldon drew a card and then said, "You may have drawn on some more Shadow Magic, but it won't save you against me! I play Card of Sanctity, so now we draw until we have six cards in our hands!"

Both duelists did so, the light around Anthony's eyes intensifying as he looked at the cards.

Keldon chuckled as he surveyed his hand. "You have two powerful monsters on the field, so that is something I should remedy. I play the spell card Dark Hole!"

A giant black hole appeared on the field, sucking in both of Anthony's dragons.

"No but that means Anthony will be wide open!" Isabella yelled.

"Precisely so I now summon Legendary Six Samurai – Mizuho (ATK 1600, Def 1000)!" Keldon declared.

A samurai in red armor appeared in front of him, wielding two extremely curved blades.

"Since Mizuho is on the field, I can special summon Legendary Six Samurai – Shinai (ATK 1500, DEF 1500)!"

A green armored warrior holding a brutal looking club in each hand appeared beside the first samurai.

"Now since you have nothing on the field to defend yourself with I'll attack you directly with both of my samurai!" Keldon ordered.

The red armored samurai ran forwards, slashing Anthony across the chest with both of his weapons. Afterwards the green armored samurai swung one of this clubs into Anthony's stomach, and then smashed the other club across his back causing the boy to collapse to the ground!

"And now the countdown starts," Keldon taunted, as blood leaked from the motionless body of Anthony.

"NO ANTHONY GET UP!" Isabella screamed, tears starting to fall from her face as swords started to appear above Anthony, their number increasing for each second he lay still.

"You should be more worried about yourself my dear," Keldon chuckled. "After I kill him and take his key then you're next."

"I…won't…let…you…touch…her."

Both Isabella and Keldon turned to Anthony, who was on his knees, lacerations covering his body and the ground stained with a combination of his blood and sweat. The guardian forced himself to stand on his feet, albeit unsteadily. The swords above him disappeared as he did so.

"Impossible!" Keldon exclaimed. "You shouldn't be breathing right now let alone still standing!"

A small smile appeared on Anthony's face. "If I remember correctly, once upon a time the Cryak said something very similar to that to the Shadow Hunters."

"You dare compare yourself to us?" Keldon said angrily. "You know nothing of our training! Of our power! In one day I've survived more than you have in your entire life!"

"Yet somehow I've still managed to survive your little Shadow Game so far," Anthony replied. "Now end your turn so I can finish this."

"Fine! I'd like to see how you plan to beat me in this kind of duel," Keldon laughed. "Maybe all of that blood loss has made you delusional."

Anthony looked at Isabella, who was looking at him, worry etched everywhere in her face and tears still running. "You know Isabella, concern doesn't suit you. It contrasts way too much with the whole spoiled rich girl persona. But more importantly…I don't like seeing you sad."

The girl smirked in spite of the situation. "If you don't like seeing me sad then win this duel already. I don't like seeing you get hurt, let alone seeing you die."

"Fair enough," Anthony grinned, his hand glowing white as he drew a card. He looked at it for a moment and then he asked, "Since Brutality is on the field, anything that requires paying life points is essentially free right? Considering our life points aren't a factor in this duel anymore?"

Keldon nodded. "Yes."

"In that case," the boy smirked, "You'll wish you never played Brutality. I summon Cyber-Stein (ATK 700, DEF 500) in attack mode!"

A monster that resembled a blue Frankenstein monster appeared on the field.

Isabella's eyes widened. "Anthony…are you going to…?"

"Yes ma'am," Anthony replied. "I use Cyber-Stein's special effect! By paying 5000 life points I can summon any monster from my fusion deck! So time for you to meet Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon (ATK 4500, DEF 3800)!"

An enormous portal appeared beside Anthony, and from it emerged a gigantic three headed blue dragon!

Keldon took a step backwards. "So this is the power you possess…"

Anthony grinned. "Actually it's not. You didn't let me get to the finale yet. I sacrifice Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon to summon…BLUE-EYES SHINING DRAGON (ATK 3000. DEF 2500)!"

"IMPOSSIBLE!" Keldon shouted as the three headed dragon glowed. The dragon then exploded, causing the entire field to become engulfed with light. When the light subsided, a futuristic version of Seto Kaiba's signature monster was revealed, glowing with a white aura.

"Now since I have three dragons in my graveyard," Anthony explained as the spirits of Eclipse Wyvern, Dark Armed Dragon, and Infernal Dragon appeared on the field. "Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon gains an additional 300 attack points for each one."

The spirits turned into balls of light, which were then absorbed by the glowing dragon (ATK 3900).

"Such power…" Keldon said in awe.

Isabella looked at the dragon, a smile on her face. _Just like all those years ago…_she remembered.

"Now since this is a Shadow Game…and since Brutality is active…it doesn't matter how much damage I do to you life point wise. It just matters how much actual physical damage I do to you…and I think my dragon is powerful enough to win this duel for me. GO BLUE-EYES SHINING DRAGON NOVA LIGHTING ATTACK!" Anthony commanded.

The dragon fired a devastating beam of glowing energy from its mouth, completely destroying both of Keldon's monsters and causing a massive explosion.

When the dust settled, Keldon lay motionless on the ground, a gigantic crater around him.

One sword appeared above him, then two, then three. Only when there were ten swords above him did he start to move. At the count of 15 he had gotten up to one knee. He struggled to get up, as an 18th sword appeared over him…he tried to stand, but by the time he did 20 swords were already above him.

"You lose Shadow Hunter," Anthony declared.

"My role in this may be over guardian," Keldon panted. "But you are dealing with something beyond your understanding. The other hunters will come, and if you guardians survive to face our leader, Masque the Faceless One, you will not be able to stop him and the power he wields."

"We look forward to facing him," Isabella announced, walking over to Anthony so that she was beside him.

Keldon looked at the two duelists for a moment. "You two have heart, and great power…I'll give you that. But Masque has something that you don't."

"And what would that be?" Anthony asked.

Keldon chuckled. "He knows true suffering." Then the 20 swords flew at him, impaling him all over. Dark tendrils then grabbed his corpse and dragged him into the Shadow Realm as the dome of darkness disappeared.

Anthony dropped to one knee, his breathing shallow. Isabella knelt down beside him worriedly. "Anthony you need to conserve your strength now, that Shadow Game did a lot of damage to you whether you like it or not."

"The only thing that matters is that I won, so you have no reason to be sad," Anthony grinned as he stood up.

Isabella looked at him, even as drops of blood still fell from his wounds. Then she wrapped her arms around him in tight embrace. "You place too much value on me, just like you did all those years ago."

Anthony smiled at her. "You would do the same for me."

The girl let go of the embrace, a dark look on her face. "Not back then."

"Ah is this love I see?"

The two duelists turned to see Masque walking towards them. "From your mask I'm going to assume that you're Masque the Faceless One." Anthony said coolly.

"You would be right guardian," Masque nodded. "I'm impressed with how you managed to defeat Keldon, in his own type of Shadow Game I might add. You should've died midway through that duel let alone win it and still be standing right now. If I didn't know better I'd say you've been through the training of a Shadow Hunter."

"Well you know I try to go to the gym every day," Anthony joked. Then he turned serious. "I thought the most powerful Shadow Hunter would be the last one to challenge us."

Masque chuckled. "Oh I'm not here to duel either of you. I just wanted to get a closer look at the duelists that my hunters and I have to crush."

"In case you didn't notice Anthony just beat one of your Shadow Hunters," Isabella smirked. "Why don't you send the next one right now so I can have my turn?"

"You are a confident bunch I'll give you that," Masque remarked. "But is your confidence a mask? Or is it your true face?"

"What kind of gibberish are you talking about?" Anthony asked.

"Ah forgive me, I forget that my words may confuse most people. You see…every person has many masks that they hide behind. They feign emotions, they lie, they pretend to be something else around certain people. Is this not true?"

"What is your point?" Isabella asked.

"Under all of the pretending and lying," Masque continued. "Is one's true self. When nobody is watching, then the person will let their true characteristics show. It takes a very powerful person to show their true face…without any lies whatsoever. For example it is very clear that the two of you care for each other quite greatly. I see that none of that is covered by any mask, and for you to accept the task of defending the Eyes of the Cryak requires altruism of the strongest kind, so your words during that duel were quite honest."

Anthony narrowed his eyes. "Then why are you called the Faceless One?"

"If you wear too many masks for too long…eventually you lose track of who you really are." Masque replied.

"So you're a liar then," Isabella glared at the Shadow Hunter.

"To put it more precisely I don't know the difference between my truth and my lies anymore," Masque shrugged.

"Well here's some truth for you then," Isabella said. "If we kill you right now, we get rid of the most powerful Shadow Hunter."

Masque chuckled. "By all means feel free to try."

"Are you sure about this Isabella?" Anthony asked.

Isabella nodded. "If we beat him we can end this now."

"Then lets do this," Anthony grinned, his left arm turning into a blade made up of white light, and his eyes glowing white.

Isabella's eyes glowed black and her arm turned into a blade made up of golden energy. "This ends here." Then both duelists ran at Masque, who just stood there calmly.

As the two of them got closer, the sword made out of black metal appeared in Masque's hand. He parried Anthony's attempt to slash him and dodged Isabella's attack. Then Masque swung his sword at Anthony, who blocked it with his blade. Isabella, seeing an opening attempted to stab Masque through the head, only for him to grab her blade with his free hand. His mask glowed ominously and both Anthony's and Isabella's arms reverted back to normal, with Anthony quickly pulling his arm back to prevent the sword from cutting into him. Masque swiftly grabbed both Anthony and Isabella by the face.

"Did you really think using something as basic as the Shadow Blade would beat me?" Masque taunted. "Now let me show you the true power of Shadow Magic…BY RENDERING BOTH OF YOU FACELESS!"

Masque glowed with a dark aura, and Anthony and Isabella started to scream in agony. But then all of the sudden the two of them grabbed his arms and managed to force his hands away from their faces.

"What how is this possible?" Masque demanded, as he was getting overpowered.

Isabella smiled at Anthony. "My face is still perfect right?"

The boy smirked. "Other than a few blemishes here and there…just kidding yes it is. Has my face been melted?"

"Melting it would be an improvement. Unfortunately it's still the same," Isabella joked.

The two of them pushed Masque by the arms, sending him sliding backwards 10 feet!

"Well it looks like the two of us still have our faces," Anthony smirked. "So maybe you've lost your touch since the Cryak."

Masque clenched his fists. "I don't know how both of you managed to counter my attack. But clearly you both possess great power. I won't underestimate you again." And with that Masque seemed to melt into the ground, disappearing.

"We make a good team Isabella," Anthony remarked calmly.

"I daresay we have had more than enough experience working together," Isabella replied, a smirk on her face. "But perhaps we should clean you up?" She pointed at Anthony's various wounds.

"Probably a good idea," Anthony nodded. "But after that I'm getting more food…that Shadow Game made me hungry again."

Isabella rolled her eyes.

UNKNOWN LOCATION

"Masque you know I'm never going to let you get over the fact those two just managed to overpower you." Akroma giggled.

"Shut up," Masque replied angrily. "They were stronger than you would like to think."

"Maybe that is a good thing; after all we have not had a challenge since the schism," Frost remarked thoughtfully.

"They stand between us and our mission Frost," Masque said sternly. "So I doubt them being formidable means anything good for us.

"Don't be such a worry wart Masque," Akroma playfully said. "The Shadow Hunters don't lose."

Masque sighed. "Don't the two of you have a meeting to go to right now?"

"Fine, you were being a drag anyways," Akroma pouted as she vanished into the ground.

"You could just kill her you know," Frost pointed out as he too disappeared.

NEW YORK CITY

Akroma and Frost appeared on the rooftop of a skyscraper. "Where are they?" Akroma asked. "It's not like Darius to be late."

"As long as he has the information on Endchild that we asked for it doesn't matter when he shows up." Frost shrugged.

"Fortunately he did show up," A robotic voice said. "Unfortunately…I got here before you did."

A figure stepped out of the shadows, his body concealed by a black cloak, and his face covered with a hood. He took a USB device from under his cloak. "Is this what you came for?"

"Who are you and what do you want?" Frost asked icily.

"My name doesn't matter, neither does my purpose," the hooded figure replied.

"Since you interfered with our business I would highly advise handing that USB over. Or else we'll have to become…very unpleasant." Akroma threatened, as the blades in her gloves protracted.

"Even though you were blessed with great looks, clearly you weren't blessed with negotiating skills," the figure shot back.

"Well you can't say I didn't ask nicely," Akroma sighed, as she leapt at the figure. To her astonishment, when she sent her claws into the figure's chest he didn't react whatsoever. Instead he grabbed her arm and she screamed as electricity flowed down his arm and through her body!

"Akroma!" Frost yelled, running forwards, a sword with a blade made of ice appearing in his hand. He slashed at the hooded figure, only for the figure to unflinchingly grab the sword by the blade, and send electricity through Frost's body as well!

After a few moments the electricity stopped, and both Akroma and Frost crumpled in front of the hooded figure, their bodies twitching erratically.

"I think I just proved that trying to resolve this physically will turn out very bad for the two of you," the figure stated in the robotic voice.

Both Shadow Hunters tried to get up, only to fall back down.

"So I know that you can still hear me," the figured continued. "So let us have a regular duel. No Shadow Magic or any stakes. If the two of you win then I will give you what you came for and be on my way."

By now the Shadow Hunters had made it to their feet. "And if we lose?" Frost asked, the duel disk made of ice appearing on his arm.

"Then I will gain something of value only to myself," the figure replied curtly.

"You are a fool for challenging two Shadow Hunters at once," Akroma hissed, a duel disk made of light appearing on her arm.

"Or perhaps I'm an extremely capable duelist. I assume this duel will tell you which one I am," the figure said, as he revealed his black sleeved arms from under his robe, a platinum duel disk appearing on his arm.

Akroma: 8000 LP Frost: 8000 LP ?: 8000 LP

"I will let the two of you go first," the figure nodded.

"Since you seem so eager to lose I'll be happy to make that happen," Akroma said viciously, drawing a card. "I play the spell card, Charge of the Light Brigade! This lets me send the top three cards of my deck to the graveyard to add one level 4 or lower Lightsworn monster from my deck to my hand!"

Akroma added a card to her hand after putting the top three cards of her deck to the graveyard. "And I think I'll summon it so say hello to Ehren, Lightsworn Monk (ATK 1600, DEF 1000) in attack mode!"

A female warrior armed with a staff appeared onto the field, wearing white armor and boots.

"But that's not all! I also play the spell Solar Recharge! By discarding one Lightsworn monster from my hand such as Celestia, Lightsworn Angel (ATK 2300, DEF 200) I get to draw two cards, and then send the top two cards of my deck to the graveyard!" Akroma explained as she did so.

"Now in my graveyard I have Celestia, Garoth, Lightsworn Warrior (ATK 1850, DEF 1300), Aurkus, Lightsworn Druid (ATK 1200, DEF 1800), and Lyla, Lightsworn Sorceress (ATK 1700, DEF 200), which means that I have four different Lightsworn monsters in there. So now I can special summon Judgement Dragon (ATK 3000, DEF 2600)!"

An oriental white dragon appeared on the field a bright light shining down on it.

"To finish I will set one card facedown, and now Judgement Dragon's effect forces me to send the top four cards of my deck to the graveyard, while Ehren's effect forces me to do the same with the top three cards," she said, putting the top seven cards of her deck into the graveyard.

Frost drew a card, and then said, "I summon Defender of the Ice Barrier (ATK 200, DEF 1600) in attack mode!"

A blue dog like monster appeared on the field.

"Then I play Double Summon, so I can normal summon an additional time this turn! So I summon Samurai of the Ice Barrier (ATK 1800, DEF 1500)!"

The blue armored samurai appeared brandishing its ice sword.

"Now since my level three Defender of the Ice Barrier is a Tuner monster, I will tune it with my level four Samurai of the Ice Barrier to summon Gungnir, Dragon of the Ice Barrier (ATK 2500, DEF 1700)!"

The Defender transformed into three blue rings, which passed through the Samurai of the Ice Barrier, turning the rings into seven glowing stars. Suddenly a beam of light enveloped the Samurai, and it disappeared. In its place was a blue dragon seemingly made of crystal appeared.

"You're lucky we can't attack you yet," Frost remarked, but once you take your turn we'll destroy you. So I'll end my turn here."

Akroma giggled. "You see what you're up against? You can't hope to win this duel against two Shadow Hunters."

The figure drew a card calmly. "I summon Machina Sniper (ATK 1800, DEF 800) to the field in attack mode and then I finish my turn with two facedown cards."

A humanoid robot armed with a sniper rifle appeared onto the field.

"That's your grand move?" Akroma asked incredulously. "You actually think you're going to survive this turn just by playing one monster and two facedown cards?"

"Just make your move," the figure replied curtly.

"Fine," Akroma shrugged. "I summon Jain, Lightsworn Paladin (ATK 1800, DEF 1200) in attack mode!"

The white armored knight appeared, brandishing its sword.

"Whenever Jain attacks an opponent's monster he gains 300 additional attack points, so I'll attack your pathetic little sniper with him!" Akroma ordered.

Jain (ATK 2100, DEF 1200) ran forwards, only for the figure to shout, "Not so fast I activate my trap card Destruct Potion!"

Machina Sniper exploded, and the hooded figure glowed as his life points increased.

Akroma: 8000 Frost: 8000 LP ?: 9800 LP

Jain stopped his attack and went back to Akroma's side of the field.

"Why would you destroy your own monster?" Akroma demanded. "Now you're open to an attack from both of us!"

"Since one of my face up monsters was just destroyed by a card effect, I can special summon the two copies of Meklord Emperor Granel (ATK 0, DEF 0) from my hand." The figure said in its monotone robotic voice.

Two enormous orange robots vaguely resembling tanks appeared on the field, the infinity symbol visible on their chests. The glowed eerily as their attack and defense points increased (ATK 4900, DEF 4900).

"How did those things get so powerful?" Akroma gasped.

"They gain attack and defense points equivalent to half of my life points," the figure said casually.

"Fine then I switch Judgement Dragon into defense mode, and end my turn." Akroma concluded. "Frost I hope you have a way to deal with those things."

"Way ahead of you Akroma," Frost said, drawing a card.

The figure laughed for the first time. "I know about Gungnir's effect. All you have to do is discard up to two cards and you can destroy the same number of my cards on the field."

"If you knew that then why did you bother summoning those two monsters?" Frost asked.

"So I could activate my second trap card, Mektimed Blast! By sacrificing a Meklord monster, such as one of my Granels, I can destroy one of your cards, such as Gungnir."

One of the orange robots exploded, along with the crystal dragon.

"No!" Frost yelled.

"But that's not all, since my Granel was destroyed by a card effect I can special summon Meklord Emperor Wisel (ATK 2500, DEF 2500)." The figure continued.

"What!" Both Akroma and Frost exclaimed.

A huge vaguely humanoid white robot appeared onto the field, armed with a blade in one arm and the infinity symbol visible on its chest as well.

"Anything else you want to try?" The figure asked.

"I'll place one monster in defense mode," Frost said reluctantly. "That ends it for me."

The figure drew a card. "I will play Pot of Greed, which allows me to draw two cards," it said, doing so. It looked at one of them intently for a moment. Then it said, "I play the spell card known as Synchro Conversion."

Both Akroma and Frost looked confused as nothing happened on the field. "Why isn't anything happening?" Akroma demanded.

"Synchro Conversion changes all of your monsters into Synchro monsters," the figure explained.

"Why does that matter?" Akroma asked.

"Because my Meklord Emperors have the ability to absorb one Synchro monster per turn and gain the monster's attack points," the figure finished. "So I think I'll have Granel absorb your Jain, Lightsworn Paladin and have Wisel absorb Frost's defense position monster."

Tentacles of energy emerged from the infinity symbols of both machines, as they grabbed their respective targets, turning them into balls of light and pulling them into their chests. Wisel's attack became 4300, while Granel's attack became 6500.

"Now since Frost is wide open, I'll attack him directly with both of my Meklord Emperors."

Wisel swung its arm blade at the Shadow Hunter, slicing him in the chest.

Akroma: 8000 LP Frost: 3700 LP ?: 9800 LP

"Granel…finish him."

The orange robot fired its weapon at Frost, causing an explosion that threw the Shadow Hunter off his feet.

Akroma: 8000 LP Frost: 0 LP ?: 9800 LP

"Frost are you alright?" Akroma asked.

Frost slowly got up. "Ugh I'll live…but this guy is powerful Akroma."

"I don't care how powerful he is, Shadow Hunters don't retreat," the female Shadow Hunter said.

The hooded figure clapped his hands. "How admirable, it's nice to see that the Shadow Hunters haven't become cowards since the schism. Now tell me why do you wish to bring the Cryak back to this world? Masque the Faceless One is the last person I'd expect to revive that monster. Especially after what it did to him."

"How do you know so much about us?" Akroma demanded. "You just defeated one of us without taking any damage at all. You knew about Darius and his information. And now you claim to know about the schism. Answer that for me!"

The figure looked at her for a few moments. "If you somehow manage to win this duel then your questions will be answered. I place one card facedown and end my turn."

"Fine then," Akroma said as the top card of her deck glowed with a golden color. She drew and looked at the card. "I summon a second Judgement Dragon (ATK 3000, DEF 2600)!"

Once again the white oriental dragon appeared onto the field.

"Now last time I never got a chance to use its special ability, so I'll use it now! By paying 1000 life points I can destroy every other card on the field!"

"Not so fast!" The figure interrupted. "I activate my trap card, a second Mektimed Blast! I sacrifice Meklord Emperor Wisel so that I can destroy Judgement Dragon."

"NO!" Akroma yelled as both Wisel and Judgement Dragon exploded.

"I take it your turn is over now," the figure said as it drew a card.

"I'll still have life points after you attack," Akroma said.

"Unfortunately for you that's why I'll play the spell known as Limiter Removal." The figure answered as it placed the card onto its duel disk.

"No…" Akroma whispered, taking a step backwards.

"So you know its effect. All of my face up machine monsters gets their attack points doubled until the end of the turn, and are destroyed afterwards." The figure explained as Granel's attack points rose (ATK 13 000, DEF 4900)."

"And I'm wide open too…" Akroma sighed.

"How observant of you. Granel…end this."

Granel fired at Akroma, sending her flying backwards.

Akroma: 0 LP Frost: 0 LP ?: 9800 LP

When the smoke from the attack cleared the figure was gone, and Akroma was on the ground. She got up gingerly, her hands clenched into fists.

"Hurts doesn't it?" Frost asked.

"That duelist could have done worse to us…but he didn't," Akroma said angrily. "How did he manage to beat both of us so easily? And how did he know so much about us?"

Frost shook his head. "I don't know, but the way he dueled seemed so planned. He baited us into those traps and because of that he was easily able to summon those Meklord Emperors. Only Memnarch dueled like that."

"We watched Memnarch die," Akroma pointed out. "Masque personally did it. Anyways Memnarch never used those Meklords."

"The point is…today we saw those two guardians, Anthony and Isabella stop Masque. Not to mention Anthony beat Keldon in Keldon's own specialty duel. It seems that there are things here that are stronger than we gave them credit for."

"Nothing will stop us from completing our mission Frost," Akroma said testily. "The Eyes of the Cryak will be ours…no matter what the cost."

**Basketballdude51:** Sorry I haven't been able to update in a while…I've been really busy with school and other things. But I will try to update semi regularly from now on.

**So Anthony managed to beat Keldon in a brutal duel, and it seems as though the Shadow Hunters aren't as unstoppable as they have looked. Who was the hooded duelist? What is the backstory behind Anthony and Isabella? What is Masque's past with the Cryak? Those are things you won't find out for a long time...but in the next chapter Aster steps up against the next Shadow Hunter, who's Shadow Game is even more vicious than Keldon's.**


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